SINGLE REVIEW: ROSWELL ROAD - BACK ROW

Leaping straight onto our radar, with their inventive new single "Back Row" are Americana duo Roswell Road. Jasmine Watkiss and Zoë Wren formed Roswell Road after a chance meeting in a bustling market square in Cambridgeshire and they have clearly put plenty of effort into this single.

Produced by The Dunwells who are familiar to #TEAMw21 via their work with Megan O'Neill, the opening effect is of a crackly piece of vinyl playing a muffled tune from the mists of time before three guitar notes are the signal for the vocals to begin. There is a definite harmony in their voices that soon comes into play. The "Back Row" is a metaphor for life, sometimes you need to relax and step off the treadmill. It is captured to great effect in the opening verse

"I'm tired of this race

Let's take the view in

Go down the track slow

You've got a lot to say

But I'm not listening here in the back row

Cause I know"

The last words are joined by shimmering cymbals that lead into the chorus, which picks up in volume midway through, on the arrival of a prominent acoustic guitar and a piano.

"It's the same line

We hear all the time

Here in the back row

Here in the back row

And it's an old game

We play it over again

So I'm here in the back row

Here in the back row"

By the second verse the percussion has gone from providing atmosphere to steady back beat as the lyrics ponder the pressures of everyday life.

"You say it's for my good

Why do I feel I'm under attack though?

I've worked harder than I should

I think I've earned my seat in the back row"

There's a nice harmonic break before heading into the bridge which says it's just a temporary withdrawal from the pressures of the real and online world. It is something perfectly summed up in the final verse where it is easy to see how the seemingly relentless grimness of world events can eventually take its toll.

"One day maybe I'll come back around

Plant my feet onto solid ground

I got a reason but I've lost my rhyme

I know it's coming back again in time"

Reality is strange

We're living in a real maniac show

So while the world's insane

I think I'll hide out here in the back row"

Roswell Road have a wealth of good material in their back catalogue and chances are some day soon they'll find #TEAMw21 standing in the front row!