Frankie Rose: Interstellar - Album Review

Frankie Rose
Interstellar
Rating: Grrrr

Frankie Rose, a Brooklyn singer/songwriter, is formerly associated with acclaimed acts Crystal Stilts, Dum Dum Girls, and the Vivian Girls, and has released one solo record under the name Frankie Rose and the Outs (unheard by me) and is now performing solely under her own name, Frankie Rose. Her first album titled Interstellar lives up to its title quite well, featuring ten tracks of lush, gorgeous, and catchy synth/dream pop which supports Rose's charmingly drifting vocals. The production on Interstellar has a dense, open quality of such records like The Cure's Disintegration, with lots of cavernous synths and drum programming, but also has a post-punk quality to it as well, with some brittle, ringing guitars and influences of acts like Magazine, Public Image Ltd., Echo and Bunnymen, and practically any artist on the 80s 4AD roster. The album is both expansive and intimate at the same time, filling wide spaces but also providing the listener with plenty of introspective, headphones-like moments.

The switch to using her own name shows that Rose is no longer content to work solely as a background player, or part of some trumped up band. The title and first track, "Interstellar," doesn't pull punches. Twinkling synths rise from a mist, her vocal upfront and direct, erupting into a shoegazey swirl of pounding drums, synths, and guitars.



"Know Me" practically borrows the drum programming from The Cure's "Close To Me," but instead of being of childlike wonder, the track is a spiky, guitar-driven romp about the power of words to hurt but not allowing them to.



The lovely multi-tracked vocals and spongy bass synths of "Gospel/Grace" flit over bouncy drums, spiky guitars, and washes of synths.



A brittle phalanx of guitars, tight bassline, and whiplash percussion drive the beat driven "Night Swim."



While the edgy atmospherics complements the icy guitars and chugging rhythm section of "Moon In My Mind," Rose's voice recalling the gauzy vocals of Lush. While I loved the darker, beat driven moments on the album, there are plenty of quieter moments on Interstellar. "Pair of Wings" is a lovely, almost ambient track, with some lovely lyrics about taking a chance again after being hurt.

"All that I want is
a pair of wings to fly
into the blue of
the wide open sky

Show me your scars
I'll show you mine
perched out of the city
on a pair of power lines"



Final track "The Fall" includes a lovely counterpoint between the guitars and a lovely cello part, and in combination with her densely tracked vocals could stand easily alongside the best tracks on a This Mortal Coil record. While "Apples for the Sun" features a haunting piano and organ drone underneath a heavily reverbed multi-track vocal.

Interstellar is a record to get lost in and to hibernate with. Its charms, while immediate, are many, and each subsequent listen brings you deeper into its bottomless pool. It's a lovely record for a cold winter day, or driving down a lonely highway. The music is so evocative and transportive, it acclimates to any setting. It is a phenomenal step forward, and in a direction I want to see her go further down.

Rating Scale:

Chilfos: masterpiece; coolest thing I've heard in ages.

Woof Daddy: excellent; just a hair away from being a masterpiece.

Grrrr: very good; will definitely be considered for my top releases of the year.

Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It: good; definitely invites further listens and peaks one's interest for more material.

Meh: not horrible, but certainly not great; could have either been polished, trimmed, or re-thought.

Jeez Lady: what the hell happened? Just plain bad. They should hang their heads in shame and be forced to listen to Lady Gaga ad nauseam as penance.

Tragicistani: so bad, armed villagers with pitchforks and torches should run the artist out of the country for inflicting this abomination on the human race.