“Magnified” by Rosie Abbott

 

The appreciation of music is necessarily subjective, depending on who we are, our  age, cultural background, previous exposure to music, and many other factors. The consequence of so many variables affecting musical taste is that when we listen to a “new” work we will react in unpredictable ways. We will, for example, recognise different influences, assign genre labels, and notice certain characteristics rather than others. That this is true becomes readily apparent when one reads reviews and comments on a new record by an artist who is so far not widely known, and whose output resists easy categorisation.

Such a work is the album “Magnified”, by Rosie Abbott, who happens to be my daughter. It is released today, 2nd October 2020. The pre-release reviews have been uniformly excellent, yet the range of influences cited leaves me bemused – not least because I’ve not heard of most of them - and I detect differently. Such is subjectivity when faced with something very out of the ordinary. This album, Rosie’s third, if stylistically labelled at all, tends to be referred to as melodic pop or rock; to my mind, and ears, it is a long-awaited descendant of the greatest music of the 60s and 70s. While each track is individualistic and highly original, overall the album has a consistent and mature sound which – as with many of the greatest composers and singer-songwriters – fits only into a genre of its own. Rosie’s music is a complete one-off, and everything you hear on the album was composed, played, sung, recorded, and mixed in her home studio, an astonishing 16-track tour de force of creativity, technique and talent.

Artwork by Caroline Scarborough

 

As I’ve already implied, everyone will have their own favourite songs – and they will be spoilt for choice. They will – as is in the nature of listening to a “new” album – have those that they respond to instantly, and others that take longer to appreciate. “Faves” will probably fluctuate for a while. Mine have settled down and include the title track “Magnified”, the sprightly “Alice Died”, the brilliantly bonkers instrumental “Malestroit Smile” named for a small Breton community, and “I was a mess”. This particular track comes loaded with huge amounts of déjà entendu, and like all the best episodes of its more familiar analogue déjà vu, is in the end mysterious and unidentifiable – perhaps because it’s a song we’ve been waiting ever since about 1963 for someone to write. For me, the consistent highlight on the album is the eighth track, “Robin Hood’s Stride”, which recalls a profound locational ecstasy at a Derbyshire Peak District beauty spot, and demonstrates Rosie’s remarkable vocal range. But it’s more than that. At exactly 30 seconds into the song (and repeated exactly 60 seconds after that) is a moment of musical bliss where two parts of the song almost, but don’t quite, connect, leaving a sonic space that is indescribable but of extraordinary beauty. There’s something very rare and very special about this moment.

For more information about “Magnified”, including limited free listens, videos, reviews, and the opportunity to purchase as a digital download or a physical CD, please visit Rosie’s Bandcamp site at www.rosieabbott.bandcamp.com