Rosina and the Weavers debut album Hitching the Starlight Highway at its core is dramatic Indie Pop distinguished by a powerful voice from songwriter and singer Anna-Rose Evangeline Carpenter.
A smooth crystalline voice which could be compared to a Molly Tuttle, with that slight American Country twang dialled down.
Walking Song starts slowly with a deliberate folky vocal tone as the music portends drama. Cause I rule my kingdom/ With the tenderest tyranny. The weather gets wilder. The music unleashes to reflect this, and the singer ends up keening on the wild and windy moors. Severing skin from bone.
Bowie in the Bathtub has the same structure. Starts as a pleasant and mildly seductive Pop song and then elevates into witchy and possessed music. Cause this is a new kind of daydream, nightmare/ This is a new sound of mine.
I’m sure it shares something from the Ziggy Stardust album, and specifically the Moonage Daydream track. I’m shooting up stardust at lunchtime is her vision whilst listening to Bowie.
For Marilyn appears lighter and sweetly melodic, being an ode to the iconic actress. The introduction sounds like the Smiths, and their song I Don’t Owe You Anything from their debut album.
Not as heavy and sad as the (original) Elton John tribute. They still do it as a straight up homage. But she was a complex character with the dark shadows of sex, lies and audiotape.
More Like My Mother is a reverential Pop song with a nicely controlled vocal negotiating peaks and troughs with ease. There is possibly pedal steel guitar, or it could be keyboards adding teardrop harmonic tones.
West Coast Ramble is a nice Pop song carried along by melodic guitars. What nails it is a great bass line all the way through. Dave Alley co-wrote this, so I am assuming he is playing on this.
A maverick cult musician who plays a type of Americana with his own idiosyncrasies. He has helped this band in the past with recording their material. Both he and the band are from Pukekohe.
Karuwha and Rosina gets to sing high and lonesome in her own way. The guitars start heavy and dissonant. Addressing the Land Wars, which contains much buried history in this part of New Zealand.
‘Cause the blood from the land wars cries here from buried deep. The singer does sound like a ghost on the highway.
And The Rain Starts to Fall begins as a spoken poem and echoes some of Patti Smith, but the singer doesn’t follow through on that. It has nice Rock guitar licks which carry it through.
Hitching the Starlight Highway. The title track is dreamy Pop which could just as easily be regarded as an idyllic Folk love song. Strings are heard in the background.
Hitching the Starlight Highway has strong well-written songs which grow on you, after the first flush of instant appeal. They have been described as a Rock group, and I’m sure they can get heavy if they extend out when playing publicly.
Then again, Rosina and the Weavers may also become a New Zealand version of the Smiths, but with a more versatile singer than Morrissey.
Rev. Orange Peel
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