This album was co-written and co-produced with Ross MacDonald of ‘The 1975’ which helps explain the lush arrangements and swelling melodies. However, these characteristics seem somewhat at odds with tunes which were written out of feelings which Rose Carney has described as “severe existential dread”.
The dark Folk Horror-esque videos made by Cal McIntyre for the tracks Here and The Evidence reflect this mood more accurately. These contain striking visual representations of rage-fuelled songs which Carney says are “angry, vulnerable and loud”.
I have to say that the loudness should be taken as relative given that this record, Carney’s fourth, has more in common with introspective folk-pop and mild-mannered shoegaze than with hard rock or punk.
A clue to Carney’s tendency towards a dark turn of mind can perhaps be traced back to her distinctive track by track retelling of Radiohead’s The Bends in 2020. Anyone compelled to immerse themselves in this album is making a clear statement that she is an artist who is not content to focus on windswept, mystical airs.
Carney is certainly expanding on the intimate folk roots that defined her debut album Bare (2019). This included a collaboration with Lisa Hannigan (‘Thousand’) and the similarities between these two Irish-based artists is easy to discern. Both could be mistaken for trading in gentle easy-listening material but, if you scratch the polished surface something altogether more sinister or less reassuring is likely to be revealed.
