Tag Archives: Roslyn Moore

Tropic of Cancer by Roslyn Moore

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Roslyn Moore is back with her second desert opera, Tropic of Cancer.

I was an immediate fan of Roslyn’s as soon as I first heard her stuff on Soundcloud over a year ago. So the announcement of this new album did get me excited.

Evolution of the desert opera.

Tropic of Cancer is the new album by Roslyn Moore, which builds upon the material from her previous album Hazy. Those older songs – some of which have a different sound to them, coupled with 9 new songs – make for a deeper and darker Roslyn Moore experience on this album.

I’ll first address the elephant in the room. Yes, all of her songs from Hazy are on this new album but what you have to remember is, is that these songs have been available for free on Soundcloud since their release. With this, I tend to think more that she is working out her sound and albums in the public space. Kind of like if a painter uploaded her pictures in stages as she was painting them. The same emotional and ideological core, but each iteration building on the last into a stronger end piece.

Some hand-picked favourites

There were a few songs that immediately stuck with me from Tropic of Cancer. These tended to be ones that sounded like she was experimenting with her sound.

Roslyn Moore

Starting with the ebbing and flowing of quiet percussion, The Great Escape/15 Rounds was refreshing to hear from Roslyn. The percussion starts and stops with her spoken lyrics continuing, giving it a 50/50 mix of accapella and accompaniment. It gives the song a really interesting sound that is unlike anything Roslyn has done before.

Speaking of things she hasn’t done before – scaring the hell out of me is one of them. The last quarter of Hazy/Agents At The Ferris Wheel took a complete left turn into what I can only describe as a drug-induced, Industrial nightmare. I was nodding off to her calming vocals and this thing just hit me off guard.

It scared the absolute living shit out of me. Good job.

Probably my favourite on the album is a song called Coke&Weed. With its marching-band / jazzy / guitar-kissed infusion, this song has so many interesting parts to it that I keep going back for more. This song would sound so fucking awesome played live in the Road House on Twin Peaks.

In closing

You should think of Tropic of Cancer as more of a transformation from her previous album. All of the songs from her previous album, Hazy, are on here – but so too are 9 new songs. Not only that but some of her previous songs sound like they have been redone / remixed.

I love that Roslyn is still pushing her music forward, experimenting with new ideas, whilst still remaining true to her emotional centre. These songs are still soaked in a dark melancholy, only this time she’s coming at it from new angles and with new styles.

Hazy (A Desert Opera) by Roslyn Moore

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Like people who remember where they were when JFK was killed, or Princess Diana, I remember exactly where and when I first heard Hazy (A Desert Opera) by Roslyn Moore.

I was in that midway state of consciousness between awake and asleep, listening to this album. I was enjoying it as an overall experience as my dozing in and out hindered my ability to latch on to the songs. That was until one song in particular stood up and smacked me in the face. That song was “Drama Queen”. It is fucking awesome. In fact I tweeted that exact thought right out then and there.

A manifesto for love’s losers

I imagine that this album was very cathartic for Roslyn to make. I know nothing about her personally, but the music comes across so personally and emotionally that it just has to come from somewhere real.

When I listen to the songs here I don’t feel down at all. I mean, I can imagine people listening to this music in completely different frames of mind. Perhaps you need music to enhance your depression; perhaps to need comfort to remind you that you’re not alone. For me, I see the beauty that has come out of pain and made something that the world needs – real, honest, art.

Hazy is a brutal manifesto for loves losers. That person willing to take a bullet for passion. At its best, Hazy is ride off the cliff hand in hand music.

Hazy (A Desert Opera) described on SoundCloud

Each song on Hazy (A Desert Opera) is completely unique to me. No one song bleeds into another and every song has its own idiosyncrasy that makes it stand out from the next.

“Malibu” is as great an album introduction as they come. It’s hard to talk about sadcore without somehow thinking of Lana Del Rey, but I got that sort of vibe in this song. But I also got reminded slightly of the singer from a band I used to listen to called Jack Off Jill.

When presented with a new artist I often can’t help but draw initial comparisons to other artists I like. But if I grow to like that new artist the comparison soon goes away. Before the end of Malibu the comparison was gone – I was officially a fan of Roslyn Moore.

Roslyn Moore

The next song, “The Burbs”, is where I fell in love with the album. While writing this post, I focused in on the words of this song and found I could vividly picture the song’s story in my mind’s eye. I couldn’t help but see the scenes play out in a Twin Peaks-esque town. A picture perfect idealistic town with a dark underbelly of taboo hidden just beneath the surface.

Or am I just thinking about it too much? – I don’t think so. The great thing about music, and art in general, is that every receiver’s opinion is valid.

I love the lyrics to the next song, “XO”:

someone cool like you
who tastes like you and smells like you
and fucks like you
someone who talks like you
and kisses like you and smiles like you
I really really need someone cool like you
who moves like you and plays guitar like you
and looks like you
someone cool like you
someone cool like you

XO by Roslyn Moore

I couldn’t mention a couple of songs with mentioning “Drama Queen”. The flow of this song just blows me away every time I hear it. The transitions between the song’s sections are so greatly done. How her voice and the accompaniment come together perfectly in the following passage just grabs me:

every time I close my eyes
I can see you in my dreams
I can see you through the lines
telling me baby, you’re such a drama queen

Drama Queen by Roslyn Moore

Curtain Call

Like many of the emerging artists of today, Roslyn has her music on SoundCloud where you can listen to your heart’s content.

I urge you strongly to get on SoundCloud, turn the lights off, and enter into Roslyn’s highly-emotive world of Hazy (A Desert Opera).