The Irish singer-songwriter Rosie Carney has returned with her first song since 2022.
Co-produced by Ross MacDonald of The 1975 and Ed Thomas (FKA twigs, Cat Burns), ‘Here’ is a sonic contrast to previous reflective material, bringing in alt-pop, electronic and shoegaze sounds to her new music.
“Since recording my first album, ‘Bare’ I’ve always known that someday I wanted to build a much more expansive musical world. It wasn’t a matter of if, it was a matter of when and how? Since signing to Polydor when I was sixteen I’ve probably done hundreds of sessions with some really wonderful musicians. But for the longest time I shied away from truly embracing collaboration, as I feared it would mean surrendering my identify. It wasn’t until I got into the studio with Ed and Ross and we finished “Here” that I felt comfortable with the idea of there being a team of collaborators who would amplify my voice and vision while staying true to own intimacy and I am so grateful for their help in forging this new world to come.”
Rosie Carney
The music video filmed in Ireland was directed by Cal McIntyre (The Last Dinner Party) with cinematography by Charlotte Croft.
Says McDonald:
“Rosie was the first artist who let me express myself fully as a producer outside of my band, so I am immensely proud of what she, Ed and I have created together. Also, to be tasked with changing her musical expression and exploring new parts of her talents and tastes has been a real privilege. I learned a lot from working with her and I’m incredibly excited for “Here”, and everything else in this project, to be heard.”
Ross MacDonald
About Rosie Carney
Each morning in the studio the Hampshire-born, Ireland-based artist Rosie Carney would be regaled by stories of the true crime podcasts her collaborator Ed Thomas would listen to as he fell asleep. “They were about fucking plane crashes or some other apocalyptic shit,” Carney laughs. “We’d end up talking about them, and then about the way of the world, eventually bleeding into the theme of what we were making.”
These surreal, strange and somewhat nihilistic conversations chimed with that particular moment in Carney’s life. Emerging in 2019 with the spare and vulnerable folk of debut album Bare, she then caught many’s attention with a stunning and creative full-length reimagination of Radiohead classic The Bends, released in 2020.
After coming out swinging on her rockier second album, i wanna feel happy, Carney began experiencing what she describes as “severe existential dread, and feeling like I’m about to die”. Feeling like the walls were closing in, these seemingly lighthearted studio conversations over coffee brought with them a framework and theme that spoke to her current despair. A theme began to appear — Don’t Leave Me Here serving as a physical representation of her dread, but also her desire to break beyond it.
Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005. He is the co-host of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Cara Magazine, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, co-founder of Lumo Club, event curator, Indie Sleaze club promoter, and producer of gigs and monthly listening parties & events in Dublin.
