Fuzzy Indie with Poetic Lyricism
Two years after the release of her debut album, Rowena Wise’s new album Bad Things Feel
Good* is anything but a sophomore slump. A new signee to the New York-based 22Twenty
record label, the Melbourne-based songwriter takes on her label’s philosophy of being weird by
making a diverse indie rock and folk record that holds no punches and brings something to the
table for everyone.
Across the album, Wise effortlessly moves between quiet folk tracks and confessional lyricism
to rock songs with blown-out fuzzy guitars, and manages to package both into an album where
both not only feel welcome, but play strongly off one another. Her lyricism throughout the record
backs this up, with her taking a conceptual formula into each song, where she explores some
facet of emotions in an observational sense. The diversity in how she applies this formula
creates a set of lyrics that feel entirely cohesive but constantly fresh.
The album’s opening track “Home In This World” is emblematic of Wise’s more folk-forward
side. The song primarily consists of just her playing an acoustic guitar and singing, putting her
lyricism front and center. There’s no hiding behind instrumentation here; she twists rhymes of
retrospective symbolism regarding regrets of “every planet, every rock, everybody I've ever
loved,” pinpointing these themes with a chorus of “I don’t feel at home in this world anymore.”
This quiet introduction to the album is very gently interrupted throughout the track with an
ensemble of bassy woodwind instruments, very much akin to the late 60s folk music that
inspired this track.
Two tracks later, “Blood Ties” shows an entirely different side of Wise. The track opens
suddenly with a fuzzy riffing electric guitar over a drum beat that is heading directly for its
destination. The lyrics are similarly gritty, with the titular lyric “you’ve got blood ties stuffed in
your mouth” showing a rougher side to Wise. Despite the stylistic mixup, the lyrics maintain this
emotionally observant theme that Wise maintains across the record, where the “blood ties” are a
self-imposed mute the subject is using to keep himself emotionally secluded. In the middle of
the track, Wise plays a Pixies-esque guitar solo of a fuzzed-out electric guitar feeding back on
itself, a decision that not only fits the song incredibly well, but also serves to give the song an
energetic peak before cutting to the song’s quietest moment at the bridge, creating a dynamic
and lively feel to this track.
This record features such a diverse offering of sounds that there aren’t many listeners who
couldn’t find something to love with this album. It isn’t so out-there that it would
alienate a pop audience, but it doesn’t hesitate to take risks and make the weird choices that
give the album its personality. Lastly, being in and out in just under 40 minutes creates a
wonderfully balanced record for lovers of folk, rock and indie music alike.
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