Following her reemergence in 2021, Essa Rowena is ready to present her Berlin-birthed, mysteriously sensuous single Cereus
Rowena Robertson, AKA Essa Rowena is a seasoned singer and songwriter from Melbourne, one who has recently called time on her break from the industry she has long been a part of. In the 90s she was a member of shoegaze outfit Snowblind, later becoming Motor Ace.
Her first solo effort, a self-titled EP, arrived in 2021 and later became the impetus for her recent trio of singles, including Cereus.
After Berlin based producer Elliot Duke reached Rowena in awe of her self-titled release, the singer relocated to Germany for a short stint earlier this year.
Working with Berlin based musicians and recording at The Famous Gold Watch, Rowena emerged with a delectable evolution of her own personal sound.
The song Cereus is about creativity itself. Taking its name from the cactus flower that only blooms at night, something of a metaphor for Rowena’s experience in moulding her her ideas into shape.
The experience of having an idea bloom becomes the subject of much undivided attention, the unfurling of desire and passion culminating in the most private of moments; the one before the idea in question becomes something tangible.
Turning the beloved experience of cultivating art into a story in itself, Cereus has a seductive and secretive feel to its production.
There is something very Kate Bush-esque about the poetry Rowena spins, and the vulnerability she weaves with each verse.
Enchanting and diaphanous, despite the extremely private nature of her experience, it is shockingly easy to be drawn into Rowena’s depths.
With an ease laced with thrumming passion, Cereus bubbles and expels without ever quite reaching a boiling point.
With a drum groove reminiscent of Aaron Steele’s work on Hayley Williams’ Petals for Armor, there is something inherently feminine and divine about Cereus.
Something that belongs to Rowena and Rowena alone, though isn’t afraid to be observed by others.
There is a magnetic pull that acts as a current throughout Cereus, a dizzying desire that longs to be fulfilled. And the joy that exists within ones own creative experience.
Listen to Cereus below.
