SAFE TO RUN/VINYLE BLEU GLACE

Description

Everything clicks on Safe to Run, the fourth album by singer-songwriter Esther Rose. It is the tranquil culmination of years spent fully immersed in a developing art, presenting Rose's always detailed emotional scenes with new levels of clarity and control. As in her previous works, her writing transfigures the chaos and uncertainty of a life in progress, but here she introduces a new pop element that attaches unshakeable and catchy hooks even to the darkest parts of the journey. Rose takes an unflinching look at her own vulnerabilities as well as more universal concerns, never taking herself too seriously in the process. This manifests as a critique of the insidious sexism in the music industry on "Dream Girl," but quickly blends into a hazy landscape of memories from dive bar drama and her suspended hover in her early twenties on "Chet Baker." The song "Safe to Run" (a beautiful duet with Alynda Segarra of Hurray for the Riff Raff) directly merges the personal with the global, overlaying feelings of spiritual displacement with the broader, imminent fear of climate grief. Rose breathes in the ecstasy of the natural world in one line and pokes fun at herself a few measures later. There are ghosts in the room for most of her songs, but she has invited them in and jokes with them over a drink or two. Ultimately, all these new advancements become glimmers of light in the background as they blend into the overall impact of the songs themselves. Esther Rose translates her universe into eleven curious and captivating scenes. While the songs are stunning one by one, absorbing Safe to Run as a whole feels like witnessing something taking shape, experiencing the heady drops of elevation and the slow return to balance as the clouds begin to clear.