A live recording of a discussion about one of the best albums of 2025 from Rosalía.
Rosalía’s Lux is the kind of album that demands to be heard properly and intently – a mountain-moving, orchestral operatic masterwork recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra, sung in 13 different languages, and inspired from the writings of Simone Weil, Clarice Lispector and the lives of female saints, so that’s what we did in March when we hosted two listening parties in Dublin’s The Big Romance and Fidelity, as part of the Nialler9 Listen Closely album listening events.
After the flamenco pop of El Mal Querer and the genre-slicing Motomami, on Lux, Rosalía made something else entirely – intimate and enormous, ancient and futuristic, deeply human in every sense. The album is so ambitious and creative – it felt right to dedicate some real time to the record in a suitable environment without distractions.
So this podcast episode is a recording from night two in The Big Romance between myself Niall and guest Louise Bruton – who recently directed the short film Let Go – discussing the massive scope of Rosalía’s Lux – the literary writing and saint-inspired spiritually romantic and rapturous album – which was my favourite of 2025.
Lux realises an album of earth-shaking movements in four parts through orchestral spirituals, with The London Symphony Orchestra.
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Listen back to the chat in this episode.
Our next Listening Party is Chemical Brothers – Dig Your Own Hole [1997] on July 29th.
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.
