"Will they let me into heaven with a fake ID?/ The bad things are feelin' good" – major contender for lyric of the year, or what!?
Measured and contemplative, Bad Things Feel Good* finds Rowena Wise processing uncertainty and moving gently towards self-acceptance: “It’s time for me to be alone and honest.”
“I’m dangling my feet into the water/ Playing with a blade of grass/ Looking at the clouds above” – (“I don’t feel at…”) Home In This World, the thrummed opener, immediately establishes this record’s rich, evocative identity.
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A brilliant storyteller, Wise effortlessly captivates while shattering our hearts. Can love exist without possession or sacrifice? Every single word on here is steeped in meaning.
“Running along the gravel as his car was taking off/ A father that didn’t hold you/ When leaving or coming home/ And so you were raised believing you should dry your eyes alone/ When your own son was broken/ When his life was down the drain/
Your only advice that one has gotta suffer for to gain.”
During Blood Ties – which is about as jaunty and upbeat as Wise fucks with – tightly coiled, tremolo-picked guitar parts flirt with thresholds.
Diamond In The Rough’s chorus overflows with deep mutual adoration thanks to Wise and Didirri’s timbral fusion: “So don’t believe what you’ve been told/ You’re made of flesh, you’re made of blood/ You are enough.”
Used sparringly, string arrangements deal final blows. A quietly devastating listening experience, Bad Things Feel Good* navigates the messy detritus of a human in progress.
LABEL: REMOTE CONTROL
RELEASE: OUT NOW
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