The Rosie Varela Project is like something you've never heard before. Transpiring traditional shoegaze with a fusion of other eclectic genres, the collective, fronted by Rosie herself, is about simplicity – simple song structures that leave room for free studio experimentation and innovation.
We sat down with Rosie to talk about their new album 'What Remains' and everything that got them to this critical point, exclusively for FLEX:
Hey Rosie! Tell us all about your new album 'What Remains.'
'What Remains' is a collection of songs that were deeply personal but don't necessarily fit in with my other project (the shoegaze band EEP). I wanted to create an album of texturally rich songs that allowed for a lot of emotional exploration and musical experimentation. Is there a certain track that stands out to you from it?These songs by now feel very much like family members who represent different phases of my life. So, from an emotional standpoint, the title track 'What Remains' is a song that took a great weight off of my heart by making it. My favorite song musically, though, is probably 'Night Sky' because it is so layered and it evokes a feeling of being at one with nature and the universe. That sounds corny, I know, but it's a rare thing to feel that way. You have such a unique sound sonically, what influenced this?
One of the beautiful things about this project is that between myself and my bandmates, we bring a very wide range of influences to the table. I think that that makes our sound much more dimensional and unexpected. We tend to use all the parts that everyone records for each song, but in mixing and post-production, I definitely feel that me and my co-producer Ross Ingram's aesthetics and joy in experimenting with sound really do impact our overall sound. Is this a passion project or a musical notion you want to further and further explore in years to come?
A year ago, my husband Justin Oser, myself, Ross Ingram and Sebastian Estrada (both EEP bandmates and partners in Brainville Studio), formed a record label called Hogar Records. We agreed that Hogar was about producing honest, quality records, so I pitched The Rosie Varela Project as a project that would record five albums to fully explore some of my songwriting catalog. A second component of this project are singles that I'm recording with artists of many genres in order to learn and grow musically. So, this feels like a long-term journey for me. It would make me really happy to keep making RVP records until I leave this mortal coil! We can hear jazz, shoegaze, indie pop in your sound but there's no real defined genre, is this what you wanted/intended to happen?
One of the things I loved in discovering the genre Avant-pop is that it encompasses experimentation and innovation while exploring my 20th century musical influences, which was a wonderful intention to set out to do. Lastly, what do you want new listeners to take away from your album 'What Remains'?
The sequence of songs accidentally happened to tell the story of my life in the past 20 years. Those 20 years were filled with some pain, a lot of joy, disappointment, and a whole lot of awe, wonder, and gratitude. What I hope my listeners take from this is that this potpourri of emotions and experiences help make us who we are. We are the sum of our experiences. We all are what remains after life takes us on our continuing journeys.
Listen to 'What Remains' here:
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