Oh, Rose
Thick Paint
The Shrinks

$8 adv/dos
All Ages

Olivia Rose has the kind of voice that changes things. A captivating drawl that lands straight in the chest and casts shadows over the rest of the day; delicately shifting the focus, quietly pulling you away from your own reality, making tiny changes to the world around it. That Do Now See, the staggeringly good EP crafted by the band which she leads out of Olympia, Washington, is a haunting and bewitching creation, part fist-clenched paean, part lovelorn howl to the moon. Originally self-released earlier this month, the five-track collection is now getting the cassette-release treatment via new UK label Fox Food Records.

While the brow-furrowing vocals provide the steadying anchor, it’s the songs themselves that truly shine. ‘Prom‘ is a magnetic opener, drawing you in like a sirens call to the disaffected, ‘Luke Rose‘ presents a hardened call-to-arms, anguished and ready to break at any moment, while closing track ‘Into The Chorus‘ is a murky but sincere plea for something – love, approval, acceptance…

There are a number of comparisons that will surely be thrown their way – from the burning energy of Angel Olsen to the misty vagueness of Grouper – but what this EP does, more than anything else, is to mark Oh, Rose out as a band who are both brilliantly and beautifully unique. A creaking chair in an empty room, the last cloud in a sky.