[gtranslate]
Music

Elizabeth Rose impresses with her songwriting on Another Earth

A few years ago triple J launched their new Unearthed radio station with a series of concerts across the country, with the likes of New Navy, Nantes and Rufus playing for free. Amongst this all-dude line up there was one performer who completely blew me away, a pint-sized singer in a gold dress named Elizabeth Rose (‘pint-sized’ is such a cliché but I feel like ice cream based measurements are appropriate for her). Since then it’s been nothing but huge strides for Rose, with two EP’s under her belt, several national tours and support slots for the likes of Snakadaktal and Tokimonsta.

Elizabeth Rose

Elizabeth Rose impresses with her songwriting on Another Earth, a strong showing of her songwriting skills and a winning combination with Chrome Sparks.

Her new track is the first taste we’ve gotten from her upcoming debut album, due for release late this year. With a title that sounds like a science fiction movie, Another Earth was co-produced by Future Classic’s Chrome Sparks, who’s influence lends an ethereal, airy texture to the background of the song. After a meeting in Brooklyn, they instantly clicked and ended up writing together in his studio. Musically speaking Another Earth doesn’t stall in getting straight to the point. Less than two bars in and Rose’s silky and expansive reverb-laden vocals are getting stuck into the melody, bouncing atop Chrome’s sparse electronic instrumentation and urging the song along to the next phrase.

Although this track would easily place itself among mainstream RnB and electro compositions it seems to be intentionally reserved. The synths aren’t too imposing and creep in at just the right pace.  The song is propelled on the back of some strong syncopation and percussion grooves, and seems to be lending itself to the Toro y Moi, chillwave school of electronic songwriting. As far as the beat making elements in the song go, think Hudson Mohawke and Ta-ku vibes, and, of course, fans of Banks take note.

Overall the songwriting just feels strong, like it could translate just as nicely into a band environment with a solid rhythm section as it could coming straight out of a sweaty dance club (probably the reason the tour launching this single was called the Discotheque Club Tour). The whole piece comes across as very thoughtful without relying on too many musical clichés, with the piano chord break-down in the middle the closest it gets to cheesy, but even then the transition back into the main groove is smooth and easy. She’s even borrowed part of the theme song of the 90’s TV adaptation of Goosebumps, though I couldn’t say if that was intentional or not (I hope so).

The track feels restrained in just the right way in order to build tension and keep you engaged through the whole thing. Another Earth is a strong direction for Rose, and is definitely going to keep us glued to our laptops for any hint of when her album will be released.

FIND OUT MORE ON

FACEBOOK TWITTER ▲ INERTIA

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/197356750″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]