Rosali
The Fulford Arms, York.
![Rosali Rosali](https://c.ststat.net/content/entimg/rosali--2051287769-300x300.jpg)
This event is for 16 and over - No refunds will be issued for under 16s.
More information about Rosali tickets
https://rosali.bandcamp.com/album/bite-down
Rosali - the North Carolina-based songwriter and guitarist Rosali Middleman - released her new album, Bite Down, on March 22nd.
Rosali’s Merge Records debut, captures her in the midst of a transition. “I started writing the majority of Bite Down after moving to North Carolina in the fall of 2021. The album traces two cross-country moves, including saying goodbye to my longtime home of Philadelphia,” Rosali explains. “I resolved to bite down on the proverbial bullet; sink my teeth into the flesh and bone of being in the world, devouring the obstacles in my path and gloriously savoring all that is on offer - good and bad. Give me another serving, another moment, another challenge, give me another chance to meet life with insatiable hunger.”
Bite Down finds Rosali collaborating again with Omaha’s finest —David Nance (bass, guitar), James Schroeder (guitar, synth), Kevin Donahue (drums, percussion), the same band she enlisted for 2021’s beloved No Medium. They are joined in-studio by Destroyer collaborator Ted Bois (keys). Bite Down showcases the urgency and ambition in their collaboration—a band pushing each other not just to expand on what they’ve already done together, but to break through into altogether new territory. Bite Down was also co-produced and mixed by Schroeder and Rosali.
Bite Down makes me think about singers and bands that throw themselves hard into the storm, the way the Rosali quartet does. The calm of her voice over top of the band’s raging—it is the emblem of songs that live to put themselves in harm’s way. But it’s not harm. It’s just that you have to play hard to get at these goods. The calm of Rosali’s voice, the straight talk of her inner search vs. the wildness of the band, the sonic storm she rides in on. That’s their sound.
The Mowed Sound. It’s hard to talk about these last couple Rosali albums without talking about them. They play free and wild and relentlessly melodious. They rip and create space and fill it up with what seems like reckless abandon, but listen carefully or listen for a while and you’ll find them paying real close attention to each other and exactly what the song demands.
Breezier songs like “On Tonight” and “Rewind” sound like they’ve fought their way to get to that sense of ease. Maybe that’s the Mowed Sound “sound”—hard-won ease. Then add to that Ted Bois’ patented Rhodes sleaze (see sinuous title track “Bite Down”) steering the record into late-night corners; the incredible “Hills on Fire” (maybe the centerpiece of the album), the guitar-ripping and the singing taking turns in reaching new levels of intimacy. It feels listened-in on, exposed and invented on the spot. It is also simply a staggeringly beautiful song. There are a few of those on the album. In contrast, “My Kind” is a raucous, hand-delivered classic; the band throws tables over. For the most part, this is a moodier record than No Medium. It has the same sound of “I’ve traveled through fire to deliver you these songs,” but it is also quieter, more nocturnal. The quiet dread of staring down an open road, and the excitement of that.