Caturday with Rosie Lowe

With her new album “Lover, Other” Rosie Lowe completes a full musical cycle. From star Goldsmiths music student to being discovered on SoundCloud, Rosie caps off this evolution by taking the production reins on her newest album. Being so intimately involved with every step of the musical process has distinguished her sound from the beginning, a through-line throughout her work that you can hear up to this day. Keep reading to learn more about Rosie’s inspirations, process and creative world.

Jasmine McBride: Congratulations on the release of “Mood to Make Love.” Can you tell us a bit about the inspiration and creative process behind the song?
Rosie Lowe: Thank you! The song was written on a hot sticky day in Madremanya, Spain, with friends Uma & Luke after a morning swim and a long lunch; the song sounds very much like the day felt. I continued on the production of this back in London and went to a studio in Eastbourne to track percussion (Dan See) & synths (Harvey Grant) from some of my favourite musicians. So much of the time love songs are about what the other gives you and I wanted to take a moment to flip that and look at all that I offer my partner so it’s an ode to self, in many ways.

JM: Growing up in a back-to-nature wooden house in rural Devon, you didn’t have a TV as a kid and got into music as a way to entertain yourself. How did this unique upbringing shape your approach to music and creativity?
RL: It massively shaped things as we found other ways to entertain ourselves and listened and played music as a form of entertainment and expression. There were some big age gaps between me and my siblings and music helped bridge those gaps, which also meant I was exposed to a pretty vast spectrum of music in terms of what was being listened to in the house (folk, jazz, hip hop, RnB, soul, reggae).

JM: Mental health is a theme that appears in some of your work. After taking a year off between your last release and this latest one, how do periods of rest influence your creativity and help you balance the emotional demands of creating music?
RL: I think taking time off is as important as having time on; my writing comes from my personal experiences / observations and these only come from stepping out of the studio and living life. A lot of my songs are inspired by conversations I have with friends’ or lyrics that came when looking out of a train window. You never know what’s going to inspire you, but for me I can’t push inspiration or creativity. For this album I wanted to create a situation where I had the ability to respond to creative impulse or ideas wherever I found myself so I took a mini studio around in a suitcase with me when I travelled.

JM: Many of your songs flip the narrative of female sexuality, from “Mango” (2019) to your most recent release, centering women as the owners of their desires rather than the objects of men’s. What drives you to explore this theme, and how has your approach to the subject evolved over the years?
RL: I think that’s a response to how I live my life so that narrative is quite a natural one for me. I’m surrounded by incredible and strong women who inspire me every day. I think my feminism has changed over the years and become more inclusive to all types of femininity. I’m conscious that my version of being a woman isn’t necessarily the next persons, and there’s so much beauty in that. 

JM: You studied Music at Goldsmiths before being discovered on Soundcloud and playing sold-out shows in London. What has this journey of discovering and developing your unique sound taught you, and where do you see your musical direction heading in the future?
RL: If there’s anything I’ve learnt from the journey I’ve been on thus far, it’s to trust your instincts and block out the noise of others. That’s where the best music is made and where I feel happiest. I try and think long term with any decisions I make and I’m always striving for a sustainable career. My goal is always to be able to continue making music that excites me and feels authentic to me; that it represents wherever I am at that point in my life.

JM: Your upcoming album ‘Lover, Other’ is set to release on August 16th. Can you give us a preview of the sound and themes we can expect across its 15 tracks?
RL: The album is a collage of different elements and processes of music I love to make. I love choral music, sample culture, live music & the more produced elements of electronic music. I wanted to weave all these things together in one body of work. Thematically, it looks at the delicate line between opposing feelings I’ve been questioning; self-doubt pitted against self-assurance, age against youth, life against death.

JM: For this new album, you not only wrote and recorded but also handled the production. That’s quite a feat! What motivated you to take on all these roles yourself?
RL: I’ve always been involved in the production of my previous releases, but for this album I wanted to be at the helm of the ship and to pull people in as and where I felt appropriate. I wrote lots of the music in Spain with Uma Bunnag & Luke Bower and had the pleasure of pulling in and working with Harvey Grant and D’monk on much of the writing & production. It wouldn’t be the record it is without this amazing family I made on this album.

JM: In creating ‘Lover, Other,’ you chose to keep your creative team intimate, including a collaboration with your brother, Louis Hemming Lowe. What has it been like to work so closely with him on this project,  and the music videos?
RL: It’s such a joy to work with my brother; we have a similar aesthetic and he knows me so intimately that it made the creative process that much deeper, and simpler in many ways. I trust him implicitly which allowed me to give him total creative control. I knew I wanted to keep the team for the music videos and the artwork small and chose people I love and trust- it was the best decision I could have made. I had so much fun making all the visuals for this album. And the music too, it was the most wonderful process, ever. I’m so thankful that this album marks such a beautiful process and time of my life.