ROWSIE, in their own words, are a unique blend of noise, rock, alternative, and Americana. They formed in 2021 making them insanely fresh onto the scene from a studio on London’s Kings Road. Rowsie, despite being American born, captured the attention of people around the UK and beyond with their powerful, energetic performances.

The band’s first album titled “I”. They say it is what it is, it’s “I” like the Romans!

With a collection of EPs and singles having been released this is their first ever full length album, featuring ten songs.

I is a nice blend of child smooth rock with a slight nod to the indie rock scene, with chilled out tones and soft vocals throughout it’s something that you can relax to and have on in the background to keep the mood nice and calm.

Hard to Be Me touches on the reality of addiction to technology and how everyone has their eyes closely glued to their screens no matter what type of screen it may be, really having the audience relate to the way modern day society is.  

Billionaire Bankers is another where it kind of focuses on modern day issues and friendships / connections and midway through the song I ended up finding myself really connecting with the lyrics on a personal level which is something you always want in a great track. The only thing letting this part of the album down is the guitar playing, it sounded so rough halfway through it made me pause and lose focus on the lyrics, it sounded like the wrong chord was played or the guitar was slightly out of tune. The ending to the song didn’t make it any better, it was just a sudden finish which seemed like a very “oh that’s it?” moment.

Fertile Fields is already a lot better than the previous, it’s giving me Bon Jovi’s Lost Highway album feels very sat back in your car on a long summer’s drive. You have your hand out the open window flowing with the wind as you nod your head to the lyrics and the general soft rock of the song. Everything is a lot better with this song, especially with the guitar playing, it’s soft and works well with the vocals and the lyrics like a perfect blend. When it comes to ‘Alternative’ rock, I’m not really seeing it. When you hear the word ‘alternative’ thrown in you’re expecting something away from the norm, something a bit more unique that’s a tad heavier and that isn’t what you get with this LP at all, you have the soft rock thrown in there 100% but that’s all it is is soft rock, they kind of missed the ball with the ‘Alternativeness’.

7:55 to Athens keeps to that soft rock feel, I do hear a big Bon Jovi inspiration with some of these tracks this one included, especially with more of their later albums that are a bit softer compared to their first few. This definitely is the more romantic song of the ten, with the soft female vocals hidden more in the background, which I wished were amped up a little bit more throughout the song, you can’t tell if they’re meant to be backing vocals or not. Sometimes they are amped up a little bit which gives the idea that its two vocalists but sometimes hers are shoved a bit in the background so you can’t really tell what’s going on vocalist wise here.

Again with the guitars in the background it doesn’t get any better, every song they slightly seem out of tune by a slight bit or are being played really rough. Track six: Willingness opens with guitars and drums and it all seems a bit messy and out of tune, it isn’t until the vocals kick in where you can see the direction they’re trying to take. The bass just seems like an additional piece of noise in the background that sticks to the same chord being played on repeat. The vocals seem to be a forefront for the structure of the songs throughout the album but this one it gets a bit messy, the vocals can’t be heard all too well over the rest of the instruments.

Messy guitar playing just plays a feature with this record, with Itch it just stays there, sometimes you think okay they have it in tune now that’s great, then it sounds like they aren’t pressing hard enough when trying to play the chords throughout the song. Ong positive you could take away from this record is that this sounds like it’s a live from the studio album, so you know that when you see ROWSIE live you know what you’re expecting to hear.

The final three tracks of the album appear to be a lot better well put together, No Time to Worry is a good example of that, the sound levels seem to be a lot better this time around allowing you to hear everything clearly without it being overbearing. Throughout this album some songs have had the vocal levels overpower everything else not allowing you to hear each segment of the track but some have the vocals slightly hidden. Half way through this song on track 8, the guitar again just sounds like it’s not being played correctly in the slightest. It sounded like nails on a chalkboard, like it’s not plugged into the amp correctly and it’s struggling to show the sound. Every time a song starts I’m getting ready to flinch from the noise of the guitar.

She Shines Electric is no better, I feel like I need to know what’s going on with this guitar playing because it’s just painful at this point, I’m on edge waiting for it to hit.

The final song on the album is a bit different to the other nine, So I’m Told starts with a soft drum beat and the guitar playing is quieter and not harsh with a good tempo, this is a nice soft ending to the album, also probably my top one from the album. You can send yourself into a sense of tranquillity with this one, nice and relaxed with a soft instrumental backing track.

A nice soft ending to an album I’m rating a 4/10, the guitar playing needs some improvement.

Words: Lauren Allard

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