Summer In Autumn with George Rose
There's nothing quite like looking over your laptop out the window and seeing the misery of grey skies, uncommitted drizzle and a crap breeze while listening to a track entitled 'Summer'. I don't know about you, but there's something about the pure optimism of an artist that decides to release a summer anthem when autumn is firmly underway. That artist is George Rose.
Having previously had success with indie band Foxe and the more pop infused This Rose, George Rose released his first solo EP entitled 'you're not worth an album, so here's an EP' earlier in 2020. Featuring four songs, the first track received a live session. And just in the nick of time, before lockdown v1.0 prevented such gatherings from happening.
This live session makes for a great first video on George Rose's youtube channel, and it's bursting with heart. The fact that the location of the church isn't listed makes it feel like they broke into the place of worship to utilise the brilliant acoustics. I'm sure that isn't true, as this would be a rather big group of musicians to break into anywhere. Featuring a band consisting of a drummer, bassist and pianist (on a grand piano no less!), George Rose's vocals are augmented by three backing singers and a hefty string section. Perhaps it was the song's chorus that inspired the use of the church? ' I need a little self care, check myself into day-care, cleanse myself, recite the Lord's prayer, ‘cause this new world has got me so scared.' The cycle of the self care ritual is traced well in the song - the feeling of being broken, the realisation of needing to fix oneself, and then finally coming back stronger. But this is a cycle, does this song begin back where it started? I suppose that's down to the mindset of the listener.
Released in June, 'I'm Bored x' is a homage to the texters that just keep coming back. A cool take on the lockdown-style videos that have become unsurprisingly popular in 2020, George Rose enlisted numerous participants to drive the point home. What could pass the time more comfortably in lockdown than learning a dance to a song that Zoomers and late Millennials can unconditionally relate to? George Rose even posted a companion video to this one so that you too can learn this very same dance. Rose has an uncanny ability of writing an infectious chorus, something he took with him when writing his next release.
Thematically, it's almost as if George Rose didn't heed his own advice and engaged in a doomed summer romance instead, though I'm sure that the two aren't intrinsically linked. His latest single, 'Summer', is a collaborative effort between himself and singers Lauren Dejey and Harry Mockett. Lauren was one of the backing vocalists in Rose's 'Self Care' live session video and has also released her own pop singles, 'Mama' and 'Cherry Cola'. Harry Mockett put out his soulful debut EP, 'H.I.M.' in 2019, with his latest single 'Thinking About You' released this past summer.
The music video for Summer was shot primarily on Brighton beach in September and luckily the weather reflects the title of the track. The sound here has more of a band vibe than I'm Bored x. I particularly love Rose's guitar tone, crunchy and loud, sounding like his previous band Foxe. The guitar is complimented well by the synths. The great thing about this trio of vocalists is that all three have entirely different tones to their voices. Mockett's vocal opens Summer with 'I know you know what you mean to me, your stare it chokes me but I can't scream.' Harry Mockett could be classed as the lead vocalist of this track, but when Dejey and Rose sing together, their voices work well. Their voices aren't exactly a blend as you can pick out what each is singing, but it works - one enhances the sound of the other. The chorus lyrics are simple, but effective; 'I'm not gonna spend all summer, touching you the way I wanna, I don't wanna be with you, I've already been with you.' My more indulgent side wishes that drum and guitar break would be longer. It would sound phenomenal live, blowing the living shit out of your eardrums, a sound you could achieve in your very own home with a decent PA and Summer on a loop. For further insight into George Rose's latest track as well as the others written about here, read on...
1. 'Summer' is your brand new single - would you say the lyrics are inspired by real events?
I wrote the song when I was 18, at the time I didn't tend to write songs with a set narrative, rather just writing whatever came out of my mind. Looking back on this song, it definitely reflected parts of my personal life but it wasn't initially intended this way.
2. I love your guitar tone on this! What do you use to achieve that?
Thanks! I record most of my guitars straight into my laptop and play around with them in there. For the solo guitar in this track there's two layers to it, with one being a really saturated clean tone (no amplifier), and the other being a similar tone but put through a big reverb and pitched up. The short answer is lots of distortion!
3. The single features Harry Mockett and Lauren Dejey on vocals - how did they become involved with the project?
We all went to uni together back in the day, with me and Harry being friends from when we were about 10 years old - we used to play in a band together at a Saturday 'rock school' (no Jack Black unfortunately). I initially came up with the track and got Harry to sing over it, we then decided that Lauren would be a perfect for the chorus vocals as we'd also previously been in a band together called 'THIS ROSE' where we used to play it live, she sounded great then and still does today!
4. Would you be open to featuring them on another track?
Definitely, I loved collaborating with them and would always be open to working with them both again. It's really great to work with people that you've known for a long time that you also admire, get ready for the sequel track - 'Winter'.
5. What would've happened if it had rained during the making of the music video? Would you have carried on regardless?
We booked the date thinking it would rain as September in England is not known for its good weather! We thought it might be funny to have a song about Summer on the beach while it was raining, but luckily the universe had other plans for that and we got to enjoy the last day of summer together.
6. I think the acoustics in a church are great - who's idea was it to record 'Self Care' in a church session? What was that day like?
I came up with the idea because a lot of the EP is all about rebirth and trying to find yourself again, it ties in with a lot of religious themes and is the reason why I think a lot of people turn to the church in times of need. It was a beautiful day, it was great hearing all the instruments come together in such a beautiful setting, showing off a completely different side to the song.
7. I love the choreographed moves in the 'I'm Bored x' music video, who else features in those visuals with you?
There was about 50 of us in the video in the end! Lauren actually features in it along with a few other great musicians/entertainers that are great friends, go check out Francesca, Rosè Zinfandel, Ida Just, Lailana, Tasha Bloom, Tara Flanagan and Tiegan on Spotify and Instagram if you've got the time. There were loads more people that made the video special but I'll give a special shoutout to my Mum, our dog Rex and Cloud.
8. Further into the future, would you prefer to do more production work? Who is the ultimate artist you'd love to produce?
I love creating so I'd definitely like to do more production work in the future for other artists. I'd love to say Kanye West as it seems like he gets the best out of people creatively, but I'm not sure if my sound would suit his newer works. I'll go with Dominic Fike as I love his sound and I'm excited to see where he progresses as an artist!
9. Since we've all had more time to create, can fans expect a new EP in 2021?
(George inserts a load of suspicious looking eyeballs) maybe more than EP... we'll see!
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