First Listen: Rosier - Go!

Leicester’s Rosier approaches creating music from a place of wonder. Despite the 24-year-old multi-hyphenate growing up in the UK, the now rising musician has no nostalgic recollections of early 2000s records being blasted out of his parent’s radio during the summer holidays. Instead, Rosier attributes his early memories of music to his muti-cultural community; in particular, the lucky chance that he grew up on St Matthews - one of the most multicultural areas in the UK. “It was a really nice place to be” Rosier says of his hometown, “especially when I was trying to figure myself out, it was the perfect place for me to chip away at discovering my identity”. Now, flying the flag as one of the pioneers for Leicester's burgeoning alternative scene, Rosier is using his curious ear for experimental sounds to inform his own music making. The product of this can be found showcased perfectly within the exhilarating aura created by his new single “GO!”. It was only right that New Wave caught up with the new kid on the block to discuss the deep rooted inspirations behind his premiere single with No Requests.

This is our “First Listen” with Rosier

First Watch

The Arran Ashan directed visual see’s Rosier wandering the city looking for the object of his affections to no avail, and uses clever styling and camera-work to transport viewers to a hazy real-world adjacent dimension where time is fluid and the sonder of city life feels entrancing. On how the visuals help tell the story of the song Rosier tells us, “it was quite out of character for me to do what I did in the first part of the video”; referring to when we see him perform an explosive dance improvisation on a busy high street. He explains further that this visual idiosyncrasy was a product of the trusting, free-flowing collaboration between director and artist saying, “Arran and I have known each other for years so when he came to me with the idea, I just trusted him...he’s yet to miss”.

First Listen

To the tune of an infectious jersey club baseline, and a percussive beat which interpolates an array of hybrid electronics, the producer-songwriter’s husky vocals cut through as he pines over ‘the one that got away’. When we ask about whether he had a particular message or feeling in mind that he wanted to induce in his listeners during the process of recording the track he replies, “I am weary of tainting the experiences of the listener. I never want to spell out my intentions. I just put it out there, I'm more interested in the personal interpretations people might get from it”. Thus, by cleverly leaving it to his listeners to fashion their own interpretations of his music when in the process of creating, Rosier creates a seemingly effortless interactive listening experience for his audience.

Artist Perception

Alongside the predominant narrative of Rosier reminiscing on ‘the one that got away’ through the lyricism in the song, there’s an intangible feeling of sonder that the track creates. This feeling is further reflected in the video through a series of snapshots which place focus on the people in the community that he’s dancing through. Rosier’s perfection of this subtle yet viscerally moving element to the music adds to its overarching message. “In the song I come to a reconciliation with this feeling of loss when I realise how small we are in relation to the universe” he tells us. “See the stars? We are really small” Rosier says, quoting the lyrics that take us into the second movement, before further explaining that “doing the video on the main streets of Southall was intentional, as it nods to the elements of our individual wider stories that needn’t be spelled out. This made it the perfect setting to tell the full scope of the songs’ story”.

As we shift the focus onto whether he has a way to describe his hybrid sound he’s championing as a producer, he responds, “my focus with the music is about the feeling and less about sticking to a sound. I never really go into the process of trying to make a specific type of song.” Taking us further into his world momentarily he explains, “I made ‘GO!’ when I was messing around with some Jersey Club. HUNA is one of my favourite producers and when I asked him to help me finish it, I didn’t really have to speak to him too much about the intentions with the record. He knew where we wanted to take it, and he took it there”. In closing, we want to know whether Rosier has a perfect setting in mind for listening to the track, and of course, citing its foundational jersey club references he cracks, “…crying in the club!”.