Rosie Lowe interview: “I’m disjointed as we all are. Life is messy.”

The producer, singer and artist Rosie Lowe on the making of her new sonically sprawling electronic album, Lover, Other…

Lover, Other is the third solo album from Rosie Lowe – or fourth if you include her acclaimed collab with Duval Timothy – and its unique combination of soulful songwriting and electronic experimentation will no doubt see it rising high in many an end of year chart. Juno Daily’s Jim Ottewill tracks down the the Devon-born star to tell us all it…

“I wanted it to be undone, representative of the messiness of me,” says artist and singer-songwriter Rosie Lowe on her brilliant new record Lover, Other. “I didn’t want it to sound like one style. Instead, I saw it as a collage of all the things I wanted to make and all the things I love to listen to.” 

The album was recorded in a variety of spaces and places, reflecting the environment around her. The sound palette blends electronica, soul and bossa nova, with influences even sourced from old Disney soundtracks. An eclectic and impressive mix, it’s Rosie’s vocal presence that binds everything together. “I loved the sounds of classic films like ‘Peter Pan’ and ‘Snow White’, how the vocals and strings communicate in them. I was interested in playing with this sound world in this record, bringing these elements into certain songs,” she says. “My voice weaves the whole way through. But if it sounds disjointed at points, then I’m fine with that. We all are and life is messy.”

Rosie was brought up in a deeply musical family, surrounded by instruments and record-collecting parents and siblings. Hip-hop, folk, jazz and much more all fed into the source of her musical education.

“Playing music was a big part of how we communicated with each other, how we came together as a family,” she says. “My dad in particular, took us to lots of gigs – I saw Annie Lennox, Courtney Pine, gigs all over the country, then wanted to learn every instrument.” 

Studying an early music GCSE when she was 13 led to her writing songs and being approached by a manager. Songwriting experiences with pop artists in the UK and US followed, a stint at Goldsmith’s confirmed her musical aspirations and she was signed after she completed her studies. “At uni, I was playing with all these different genres, but didn’t necessarily know what I was doing,” she remembers. “When I was younger working with these big pop writers, I was never necessarily comfortable with it.

A lot of the time I’m led by what I’m uncomfortable with and I think that’s been really helpful for me, having been in tune with what doesn’t quite work.” It was discovering DAW Logic and the creative empowerment this offered that really helped Rosie find what she was looking for as a writer and producer. Although she credits some of those around her as pushing her forward musically – innovators, and collaborators including Kwes and the Invisible’s Dave Okumu – she also enjoyed relying on her own abilities to realise her vision. 

“When I got a computer and discovered Logic, that really opened everything up,” she says. “I can’t play what I hear in my ears. I’d hear all these harmonic changes, then I’d go to the piano and they’d disappear. So instead I recorded bass and synth ideas with my vocal, and built tracks from there. That was the start of how I work and is still a big part of my process.”

There is a sense of freedom embedded in the heart of Lover, Other and how the record was made. Previously signed to a major, Rosie’s latest record is released via indie label Blue Flowers, meaning the previous pressures and expectations she had to contend with were gone. “I got out of the major label system about two years ago, and it gave me a new sense of excitement,” she states.

“I’d been working in a certain cycle, locked into a particular way of operating. This time around, I wanted to write and write to create a pool of music, then cherry pick certain tracks to take forward.”

Rosie also wanted to focus on production and made the decision to record songs wherever she wanted following the collaborative record Son created with Duval Timothy in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

“I’ve always produced a lot of my records but this was a big intention for this record,” she says. “I also decided I wanted to travel and respond to my surroundings.so created a studio in a bag, picked some instruments and headed to Spain first on a residential vibe – then travelled around with this suitcase of music-making toys.” 

The transient approach means there’s an authentic honesty to the sound palette that might not have been achieved had she decamped to a studio.  “I wanted to be able to make music wherever I found myself on any given day, at any particular time,” Rosie explains. “I wanted to keep it raw around the edges too and leave the doors open. If there were birds or sounds of the street on the recording, then that’s fine.”

‘Sundown’ is one of Rosie’s musical highlights from this beautiful album of electronic soul and innovation. The song bookends the record and was written about a friend who tragically took their own life. 

“It was an outpouring, a processing of what has happened, and is a very poignant song for me,” she states. “‘Berserk’ was really difficult, there was something I liked about it, how playful it was but it went through a lot of iterations. ‘In the Morning’ was really fun but I didn’t know if we’d get the sample cleared. We ended up getting in touch with the artist himself in Japan and he thankfully approved.” 

Classically and jazz trained pianist Harvey Grant also features and was a steering influence. Meeting during Covid when Rosie was seeking a keys player, he acted as a “cheerleader” for the album.

“In the industry, when people are quicker or as a woman, men often take the helm, you often don’t have the space to try things,” Rosie explains. “Harvey was an amazing supporter, he gave me the space and encouragement to work and experiment.” With industry experiences of different kinds to draw on and a new album made with Rosie as the creative director, she believes it’s down to artists to try and tune out from what others are doing to find their focus.

“As an artist, try not to think about what other people are making or what you think other people might like,” she advises. “As soon as that voice comes in questioning yourself, then you’re in your head rather than your body – and you should always be making music from your body.”

The path of independence as a songwriter and recording yourself also proved to be pivotal to Rosie and her music, allowing her to realise what she sees as her full potential.

“You should work with others but I think that should also be a choice – and not something you need to do to be able to get a song down,” she says. “It’s much easier than you think,” Rosie continues. “Learning how to use software might take a few weeks and some YouTube videos but you can do it so give yourself the chance to. It’s empowering to not have to rely on anyone else.”

With a live gig at the ICA in the diary, she’s also gearing up to record and write some more music. It’s this enthusiasm and passion that has kept her going through thick and thin, all the trials and tribulations.

“I had to learn pretty fast about the music industry which came with its own challenges too,” she says. “But I’ve been lucky to come out of it not too damaged, still standing and still in love with music. That’s what keeps me going. My favourite part is the creative process. It always comes back to creating music that brings me back to another project.” 

Lover, Other is out now on vinyl, with the CD available to pre-order

Jim Ottewill

Pic courtesy of Abiella Aland (top) and Gabby Laurent (bottom)

Rosie Lowe plays The ICA at The Mall, Central London, on September 26