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Fresh off the road and looking ahead to her next chapter, we sat down with Rowena about her plans for her musical career, how it felt creating her sophomore album ‘Bad Things Feel Good’, and her upcoming tour of Australia, New Zealand, and the UK, as part of the Seven Questions with Music is to Blame series.
Introduce yourself and where you're from.
I’m Rowena Wise, and I’m a songwriter and musician from Melbourne, Australia.
What do our readers need to know about you?
I write songs that feel like a close friend whispering in your ear. I write about heartache, alienation, self-possession, and mental health. I like to make people feel witnessed and accompanied in their complex human experiences, to make them feel things they didn't know they already felt.
What have you got coming up that you’re most excited for?
I've just released my second album ‘Bad Things Feel Good’. I'm about to do my first headline tour of New Zealand, and then an extensive tour in Australia from October to November. After that, I'll be touring the UK in March next year. So that's going to be really exciting!
What’s the best run-in you’ve had with a fan?
I met a fan at my recent show in Sydney who had hand-painted an exact replica of the artwork from my first album ‘Senseless Acts of Beauty’. And it's so beautiful. I have it on my wall. He told me about how those songs from the album accompanied him through a really hard time of change and growth in his life. It really touched me.
What’s been your biggest ‘I’ve made it’ moment so far?
That's a good question. When does one ever have that moment? It's always the pursuit. It's always the journey, not the destination. But for me, if I were to pinpoint something, it would be finishing my recent second record, because I was really proud of it. We recorded it over three days with the band live, all the vocals live. It was challenging, but also a really sincere and powerful approach to doing it. I feel like I made it artistically.
What are your three “desert island” albums?
Well, I want a few different vibes, because otherwise I'd completely unravel very quickly. So the first one would be ‘Big Time’ by Angel Olsen, because it has such a beautiful immediacy to her songwriting and her singing, yet the production is so expansive and lush. And I think I could really feel close to that out there on a desert island with nobody else.
The second album would probably be the most recent album by Overmono, ‘Pure Devotion’. I’ve only just discovered it! Overmono, they’re an electronic dance band. And while the Angel Olsen album would move me emotionally, this album would move me physically. I'd be dancing around; even if I knew I was going to die on the island, I would go out with a bang. I'd just move my body.
The third album would be ‘Blue’ by Joni Mitchell. I grew up on that album, and it inspired my journey of songwriting. One of those classic 60s folk songwriters who write songs that feel like they already exist, with so much heart. I think it would give me a nostalgic, reflective feeling to have that with me on the island.
Sum up your sound in three words.
Tender, cathartic, powerful.
C. Sharmishtha
https://linktr.ee/c.
Image: Nick Mckk
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