Conveniently coinciding with the two year anniversary of Kurtis Eugene releasing his last album Old Rooms, New Light, we’re seeing a standalone tease of what the esoteric musician has been up to. “Rosa” is the first new song we’ve heard from Eugene in all that time, and if anything it provides a clear signal of where he’s shifted.
Recorded during a “self-guided residency” at house-sit in Mill Village, Nova Scotia in February this year, “Rosa” sees Eugene moving further into the reverb-soaked minimalist choral arrangements faster than you can say “snowbound isolationism.” At this point Eugene seems to be expressing himself through unbridled audible sensations, an untethered experience rather any strict adherence to language.
“The months here ended up being a really weird, surreal time as there were a lot of intense things happening in my personal life. I had a lot of emotions to process, and the song did that for me,” says Eugene.
“It was originally a three-movement piece all mushed together. The first version had this crazy bass prog. rock intro… in listening back to it I could hear the chaos and this final version feels like the best of it. Maybe editing it was part of the processing.”
Eugene says that the release of “Rosa” on the anniversary of Old Rooms, New Light came entirely as a surprise, “that feels poignant somehow.”
Kurtis Eugene explains that ‘Rosa’ isn’t necessarily going to be included on an upcoming album, but does say that it shows the steps he’s taking towards it inevitable direction. Between the song and the image accompanying the single, taken by his partner Rachel Bruch, Eugene says that there’s a strong foreshadowing of what’s to come, particularly in the pipe organ-like structures of the trees. Perhaps he’s taken up playing the pan flute….
Tour Dates:
11.30.18 – Halifax, NS @ The Bus Stop Theatre
12.06.18 – Fredericton, NB @ Grimross Brewing Co.