Solo acoustic folk from LA-based newcomer
When Chicagoan Haroula Rose returned from two years in Spain as a Fulbright scholar, she relocated to Los Angeles and subsequently recorded this debut EP. There’s a traveler’s eye in her evocations of things she’s seen, and a yearning for movement. But Rose’s travel is marked on an internal landscape of emotion and relationships, rather than a geographical map. Her dreams of elsewhere are anchored in a change of heart rather than a change of location, being lost is mental drift rather than physical disconnection, and leaving is in a matter of the heart. Accompanied by finger-picked guitar, piano and light percussion, Rose’s songs are dreamy and introspective. She sings with a placid sweetness, occasionally adding harmony lines but keeping the tone wistful and the tempos slow. As a sampler of her wares this is quite compelling, but the passive vocals leave one to wonder if she’s got a second gear. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com] 