Rowen Bridler

Bio:

‘I don’t care what it is, care what it looks like/Don’t care how long it took/I care if it sells/... I don’t care how hard you work/I care if you’re gonna be a celebrity’ ‘home truths’

Rowen Bridler is one of the few singer-songwriters who write with a sense of humour about politics, the music industry and the cult of celebrity. Starting out with a poetic style, her early recorded work was sometimes difficult to interpret. More recently, however, her songs have shown a less coded, direct form of communication particularly in the last few tracks of her most recent album ‘Compromises’. Originally from Bristol, Rowen's early influences were the Pet Shop Boys and Abba from her Dad's record collection, but her tastes soon evolved beyond pop music. Her songs have been likened to a more politically minded Kate Bush, with a clear influence from the likes of Liz Phair, Tori Amos, Björk and Nellie McKay. Her softer songs offer strikingly rich cello lines mixed with delicate piano and uplifting vocals. In sharp contrast, her more provocative songs fit punctuated, rhythmic piano alongside sometimes staccato, almost mockingly upbeat singing with a slice of harsh reality. Rowen has also been known in recent years for her appearances in Independent European films such as ‘My Other Half’, a film based on the Hermann Hesse book ‘Steppenwolf’. Most recently, she appeared in a heart-wrenching role in the drama documentary ‘Singing to a Ghost’, which follows the story of a woman’s experiences of growing up in the shadow of a father dealing with post traumatic stress disorder. Far from a distraction, her foray into acting became an avenue to breathe new life into her work: ‘I began acting merely to see if I could understand the mechanics of it, but after several courses I found parts of scenes taking on new meaning as a portal to a song. I was sitting in the hallway of the college one day, watching some friends rehearse before an end-of-term performance and I could hear snippets of different scenes floating across each other, fitting the same theme. This was the beginning of ‘Home Truths’. It’s basically a song about the taunting attitudes of the music industry and the desperation for celebrity above all else.’ Since the release of ‘Compromises’ on digital download sites, Rowen has begun work on her second album, some of which she has been recording at a studio in New York. ‘I wanted to get a good piano sound but so many studios in London have compromised on the piano, by either only having a baby grand or switching to digital samples and keyboards instead, so when I discovered that my brother was working at Uptime Studios in Manhattan where they have a 7ft Steinway, I had to find a way to record there!’ With reviews of the last album eliciting such comments as “A Belgian chocolate of a record” and “A ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ version of London”, the next album can only bring more surprise takes on New York, London and, as Rowen puts it, ‘the gritty stuff that people don’t want to talk about’. With new album song titles such as ‘London Lowlifes’, ‘Money Doesn’t Matter (As Long As You’ve Got Some)’ and ‘Is it Friday?’,one senses a busy year ahead for this brutally honest singer-songwriter.

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Member Since:

January 13, 2009

Members:

Influences:

Dorothy Parker, Adam Gopnik, George Orwell, The Today programme on BBC Radio 4, Francis Bacon (the artist), Vivienne Westwood, Jim Henson, Helmut Newton, Jacques Prevert, Simone de Beauvoir, Oliver Postgate, The Guardian newspaper and Shakespeare.

Sounds Like:

Something between Nellie McKay and Yann Tiersen with a hint of Kate Bush on a Wednesday.

Record Label:

None