We Say…
Hailing from Los Angeles, Rosie Tucker is quickly emerging as one of the year’s most exciting new artists. Recent singles, Gay Bar and Habit, showcased two different sides of a songwriter capable of emotional gravitas, able to focus on small details and spin them into intriguing characters and rich technicolor scenes. Rosie will likely catch the ear of many more in the months ahead, with the upcoming release of their debut album, Never Not Never Not Never Not.
Rosie has suggested the influence of many of the queer, blacklisted, and forgotten female songwriters of the 1960’s, from Dusty Springfield through to Karen Dalton and Sibyl Baier. Never Not Never Not Never Not though, puts a modern production onto those influences, recalling acts like Lucy Dacus or Frankie Cosmos. What unites Rosie’s songs is their ability to paint characters in beautifully complex details; whether it’s a roommate struggling with bipolar, the troubled queen of a house party scene, or on Pablo Neruda the entire city of New York. There’s a restless creativity to everything Rosie Tucker seems to do, whether it’s yarn sculptures (as feature on the album’s artwork) or musical craft, you’re struck when listening to Never Not Never Not Never Not, that this is a record that feels like it was made as much as anything for the joy of creativity. An artist loving what they’re doing and doing it with an amalgamation of passion and skill: it’s a combination that’s hard to ignore.
They Say…
FTR: For those who don’t know who is Rosie Tucker?
Rosie Tucker is, like a lot of other people, some 2.5 decades old and around 60% water. They’ve spent the vast majority of their time on this planet eating and sleeping and pretending to have a plan in Los Angeles County
FTR: What can you remember about your first show?
I believe I played a Damien Rice song in some type of Christmas event staged in my high school’s cafeteria. Did it go well? I don’t remember. I do remember there were multiple ukulele renditions of “I Will Follow You Into The Dark”.
FTR: Why do you make music? Why not another art form?
I like that music can feel intangible and very much located in the body all at once. A time oriented art form, music is always leaving but I am still pretty uncertain about where it’s coming from. It’s all I want to be doing most of the time. That said, I reserve the right to run off and start a new life working with textiles or latex or whatever.
FTR: What can people expect from the Rosie Tucker live show?
Pyrotechnics, choreographed fight scenes, live crabs.
Okay none of that but I usually do try and provoke Wolfy into saying something blunt and bewildering between songs. [Wolfy produced Never Not Never Not Never Not & plays bass in the live band]
FTR: What’s next for Rosie Tucker?
I’m going to put out this record, I’m going to play Noise Pop and then South By and then Treefort and then tour down the west coast and then take a very long nap and see if I’ve got any songs left to write.
They Listen To…
1. Neil Young – Thrasher
My dad likes this song because it’s basically a poem. I was little when we first listened in his green pickup truck. I’ve been trying to write this song ever since.
2. Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda – Rama Guru
Ecstatic, near boundless music recorded by a genius composer not for the wider world but for like minded spiritual devotees. I (greedy, faithless) listened to the album over and over last summer, most memorably while solo driving the High Road to Taos, New Mexico in a borrowed 4runner sans air conditioning.
3. Hop Along – Trouble Found Me
“It was the chaplain, he said you came in with your jaw torn, still talking”
I told my dad, the chaplain, that this song is basically a poem. He teared up when he read it.
4. Xenia Rubinos – When You Come
“baby I love it when you fold my clothes”
This song has a line about laying an egg in someone’s mouth and is simultaneously the kinkiest and most pure love song I have ever heard.
5. Rosalía – BAGDAD
A downright jaw dropping celestial sucker punch of a tune that starts with a little justin timberlake and ends in eternal fiery torment.
Never Not Never Not Never Not is out March 8th via New Professor Music. Click HERE for more information on Rosie Tucker.
For The Rabbits 