About this item

Philadelphia-based musician Rosali’s wrote the songs for her second solo album, Trouble Anyway, during a time of personal upheaval and transition. Using her songwriting practice as personal catharsis, she spent many late nights seeking empowerment through expression. The result is at once hard and soft, vulnerable and powerful: emotional narratives developed through exploration. Rosali’s experience in music has been wide-ranging, from Michigan grange-hall folk music gatherings in her childhood, to abstract experimental improvisation, to bad bitch rock. It all shows in her powerfully sensitive vocal style-- the warm tone, intuitive wordless vocalizations, and layered harmonies that create the enveloping, summery sound central to Trouble Anyway. Rosali’s vibrant vocals present a striking focal point for the record, as her rhythmic strumming, finger picking, droning, and riffing-- resonating from her acoustic, electric, and Nashville-tuned guitars-- underpin the music. Alternating between driving and laid back, her guitar playing runs the spectrum from hypnotic repetitions to catchy melodic hooks.

Rosali’s close friends, including Charlie Hall (War on Drugs), Paul Sukeena (Angel Olsen), Mary Lattimore, Mike Polizze (Purling Hiss), Nathan Bowles (Steve Gunn, Black Twig Pickers) and Dan Provenzano (Purling Hiss, Writhing Squares), add a dynamic and energetic live band sound. The resulting record is an evocative and multilayered collection, moving from psych jammer “Rise to Fall,” to the stripped down folk rock of “Silver Eyes,” and propulsive pop-infused tracks like “I Wanna Know” and “Lie to Me.” Recorded at Uniform Recording, Rosali co-produced Trouble Anyway with Jeff Zeigler, to get the sounds she was after.

On psychedelic jammer "Rise To Fall," bursts of Lattimore’s harp sing through the heavy vibe created by Bowles’ perfectly tuned toms and Hall’s auxiliary percussion, while Rosali’s vocal lines crest like waves, without ever breaking. Sukeena’s guitar squeals with long, extended tones and fiery outbursts, while Provenzano’s distorted bass adds hypnotic texture and drive. "I Wanna Know" displays Rosali’s expert pop song-crafting ability, in a track that’s both contemplative and danceable. “Lie to Me” features two amazing guitarists in conversation-- Rosali herself who does all of the riffing, and Polizee who plays a rawly expressive solo.

Rosali talked mood and vibe with her band, but also trusted the right sounds to unfold in the moment. It is this balance of gut-feeling improvisation and careful composition that makes her sophomore release feel powerfully alive. Flexing her own musical process for self work and personal renewal, Rosali’s Trouble Anyway offers listeners an inviting entry point to explore their own wild inner landscape. 

TRACK LISTING

1. I Wanna Know
2. Dead And Gone
3. Lie To Me
4. Who's To Say
5. Silver Eyes
6. Trouble Anyway
7. If I Was Your Heart
8. Rise To Fall
9. Maybe I'm Right