Rosie Alena talks to us about the soul-searching and experimentation that led to the creation of her new EP 'Everyman'.
Photo: Lara Laeverenz | Words: Dan Webster
The second EP from south London's own Rosie Alena is filled with the whimsy and grace she has come to be known for, fine-tuned to introduce a poppier sensibility and a more direct, personal approach to lyricism.
On 'Everyman', Rosie Alena is working through something familiar to everyone with specifics unique to her – the various and bewildering effects of loss. Whether it is a partner, a family member or a friend, conflicting emotions arise as we are forced to confront the blunt realities of the breakdown of a relationship. The instinctual urge to reminisce and reflect locks horns with the liberation and excitement of new possibilities. This process of untangling from someone significant is where Rosie dials in, exploring both the vulnerabilities, difficulties and joys of moving on.
Released on local South London label Plum Cuts, and with artwork she designed herself, 'Everyman' channels a DIY, community ethos congruent with the EP's focus on the individual mission of rebuilding and progressing. As Rosie windmills through her blissfully melancholic soundscapes, the theatre of her performance shows an introspection that is ultimately positive and freeing.
We met Rosie on a sun-soaked Saturday morning in Central London to talk all this through.
With this second EP coming three years after your first, what sort of journey has the project been on in that time?
I guess it has been three years! Well, last year I put out two reinterpretations of traditional folk songs on the Broadside Hacks' label, but since the first EP the project has been through a lot of change. I was figuring out exactly what I was going to do next and whether I could do it with the people I wanted to do it with. I was thinking a lot about how to put out the next EP in the best possible way. I started recording it with my band, and then Oli Barton-Wood, who produced the first EP, was really encouraging and I began working with his label, Plum Cuts. I think I was probably waiting for something to come along, but in the last year and a half I've realised that I just need to be doing it!
With much of the project focusing on loss after relationships, did the writing of the EP play a role in helping you to navigate those difficult changes?
These songs were written around the time of breaking up with somebody, but it's not just about that. The song 'Everyman' is about lots of different men in my life who have either left or have passed away. It touches on grief in all its different forms - whether that's after breaking up with someone, someone dying or someone moving away.
Two songs are about a specific person – 'Billboards' and 'Babies' – and then 'Loophole' is more about liberation and being single again. In a way, the songs mark different stages of grief after heartbreak. I guess writing the EP did help with the processing of it all, as these songs seemed to come very instinctively and formed very naturally. With previous songs I've taken much longer in writing them, but with this EP I felt like I had to write the songs to emotionally release these feelings.
So what is an 'Everyman' to you?
For me the term 'Everyman' represents people that were once in my day-to-day life, people I saw all the time, becoming more distant. At the time of writing it I had the feeling I was seeing the people I'd lost in the faces of strangers. I would be walking around, see someone and think it was someone else. It was quite a surreal feeling. I did also walk past the Everyman cinema in Crystal Palace and think it was an appropriate word for a title. I was interested in the way things can change, where people can be so significant in your life, then move more into the background, and then suddenly they're just people that you used to know.
Given the subject matter, the EP has an many optimistic qualities in its sound. Did you have a hopeful, bright sound in mind when recording it?
I think that was the product of a new stage of writing for me. I feel like my songwriting style has changed quite a lot since the last record. These songs are snappier and a bit poppier, and more concise in the way I've written them. There was perhaps a conscious choice not to elongate my songs for the sake of it, or to make things vague. I think my lyrics are more to the point with this record, rather than being made overly complicated or poetic. I think I wanted something a bit different that strayed away from what I've released before, which is more lush-sounding and orchestral. Things were simpler in the production, with fewer instruments, but I don't think I chose to make this EP more optimistic. Some of the best upbeat songs have quite sad lyrics. Like in 'Young Hearts Run Free', I didn't realize the lyrics were "Never be hung up, hung up, like my man and me…". It's really sad but also liberating! I wanted to have that kind of energy. It was a strange, conflicting time for me, because although I'd lost someone I loved so deeply and was feeling super sad in lots of ways, I also felt really excited for all the new possibilities of life.
What inspired the technicolour collage of yourself on the EP cover? And what went into making it?
the feeling of liberation. I'm topless in one of the photos, and I never would have done that two years ago. It was nice not be worried about how I was perceived - I was just exploring myself in an artistic way. I took all the photos myself on a little selfie stick and my partner Will Nicholls (Perfect Jump) assisted me with putting it all together. It felt great to make my own artwork with my own vision, all very DIY. The whole of the EP has been very DIY, without any outside help financially, but relying on people and the community helping for the love of it.
The theatre in your live performances acts as a natural extension of the emotions in your music. How does performing live help you to get across your music's emotional potency?
I think it's my favourite part of it all. Performing is something that I've done since I was young – even before I started writing songs I always wanted to perform. It's the driving force behind it all really - to play bigger and better shows. Touring has been some of the best times of my life and having that connection in real time by seeing people responding to the music is really special.
It would be great to hear more about your involvement with the wider folk music circuit in London and its significance to you?
I was already really into folk music myself, but I remember hearing about a folk club that Campbell Baum was starting with Oscar Browne, Naima Bock and a few others. It was just after lockdown and we hadn't played with anyone in a long time, so just being able to turn up somewhere and sing folk songs with people without any expectation was great at the time. Rather than having the pressure of being the face of your own project, it was to just fun to be with people and sing other's music. So when that became a band, I got to play shows and festivals with them. It feels special to be keeping the tradition of passing these songs between generations alive, connecting to younger people and bringing those songs forward into the present. It's a great time to be into folk right now! Even in the few years the scene has been going it's become such a big thing in London, full of great artists. It seems to be striking a chord with people.
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