Recently I stumbled across a track from a young woman named Laura Groves who calls herself Blue Roses. I listened to it a few times, and slowly became obsessed with it. I can’t get enough of it. She’s young – 22 I think – but she crafts a pretty phenomenal song in “I Am Leaving”. Her other stuff ain’t half bad either.
She reminds me a bit of a female Justin Vernon. His Bon Iver took the indie world by storm last year with wintery falsettos and airy melodies. But something about Vernon’s voice bugs me. I often can’t listen to it for more than a few songs in a row – his voice is a little too affected, his falsetto a tad too forced.
Blue Roses, here, captures that Bon Iver feel without sounding strained. Maybe it’s a female vocalist thing, maybe it’s that I’ve become more accustomed to the sound, or maybe it’s as simple as a change in phrasing on the part of the singer. But the fact remains that I cannot get enough of this song.
This isn’t meant at all as a knock on Vernon. For Emma, Forever Ago is a fantastic album, and I love a lot of his songs. I’m simply saying that if you like Bon Iver, you’ll probably like Blue Roses. I may even prefer it.
Blue Roses – I Am Leaving (YSI) (filesavr)
Bon Iver - Brackett, WI (box.net) (filesavr)
Blue Roses - Moments Before Sleep (box.net) (filesavr)
3 comments:
Yikes! And I thought Bon Iver was a tough listen...Thanks anyway.
i thought 'doubtful comforts' was rather nice. the tinny piano at the end! she does have a snowy, novembery sound (to bon hiver's december?)
I really like the description of her sound as "novembery". I feel like that's dead on!
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