The latest release from Sean Rowe, The Darkness Dressed in Colored Lights, is not just a thrilling listen. From first glance, the project begins its journey with listeners through its arresting album cover. The thought-provoking artwork depicts a smokey, neon, opaque cloud appearing in a mountain crevasse above two travelers. The cloud feels an apt metaphor for the album; The Darkness Dressed in Colored Lights envelops you, taking you to places that are both painfully familiar and entirely enlightening.
Rowe recorded the album alongside producer, friend, and longtime collaborator, Troy Pohl. Working from Bon Iver engineer Brian Joseph’s studio in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, the pair aimed to tell Rowe’s stories. An “artist and nomad,” Rowe grew up in Troy, and first began playing locally in 2003. His long career has left him with a vast collection of tales from all corners of his heart. He shares them with heartbreaking clarity on Darkness.
Sean Rowe. Photo by Joe Navas
Rowe’s deep and husky voice brings to mind the classics of country and Americana, while simultaneously evoking the vulnerable tenor of Matt Berninger, frontman of The National. His spare and purposeful instrumentals absolutely grip you, letting his singular voice stand out. On the opening track “What Are We Now,” Rowe laments a disintegrating relationship. As the first song he recorded for the album, Rowe said he was dealing with a cold while in the studio for the track. He appreciated “ all the little imperfections. I knew my voice would never quite sound like that again…”
The track ends in a symphonic and strange collection of beeping noises and electric guitar whining. Over roughly 45 seconds, Rowe builds an ambient outro ending in a sound reminiscent of a Tibetan singing bowl, used for meditation.
His experimental use of ambient noises remains a theme throughout the album. But unlike some forays into ambient folk or electro-country, Rowe’s delicate production only amp up the emotional gut-punch of his songwriting. A dedicated naturalist and self-described forager, Rowe has often spoken of his deep connection to the forest and living close to the land. His dedication to the world around him is clear in the intuitive touches he adds to his music. Truly creating a world within a song, Rowe brings storytelling to a whole new level.
For its unique timbre, Rowe’s voice has incredible versatility. On “Gabriel,” where Jeremy Boetcher’s deep, reverberating upright bass makes the perfect partner, Rowe is an old-time blues poet. Meanwhile, “Little Death,” would easily get a summer Jones Beach crowd going, you can almost feel the ambient summer nights and the sloshing of Bud Light. Despite his versatility, Rowe seems most at home on his lowest notes, yet his higher ranges can be just as stunning. The mere cracks and vibrato in his voice singing “I know you feel me/When words don’t reveal me” on the outro record “Toast” is enough to bring tears to eyes.
The pattering beat of album centerpiece “Honey in the Morning” begs to be recounted around a campfire, hand-claps and all. Rowe said he was trying to capture something cinematic in the track, “a quality like a Kubrick or David Lynch film.” The ballad evokes the directors’ experimentation with the unknown perfectly. The chorus, “I know you’re a runner but I was hoping that I wasn’t right/ Honey in the morning turn to poison by tomorrow night” evokes a torrid love story while maintaining an air of mystery. The hypnotic instrumental, anchored by drummer Shane Leonard’s impossibly machine-like drumming, only adds to the uncanny quality. Eventually, an instrumental breakdown so good it’s not fair to spoil is the cherry on top.
Photo by Joe Navas
For its complex atmospheres and shifting genres, at the heart of Rowe’s beautiful album is emotionally raw songwriting. His words feel deeply relatable and completely personal. In “What Are We Now,” he sings of a lover that just won’t let him go.
When the apple of your eye/ is an oxidizing core/ You’ll be sighing at the moon/ While you’re pumping in the gas/ And you’re hoping that tomorrow’s gonna save your tired ass.
The scene, so familiar yet specific, is paired perfectly with the pained understanding that you love something that may be harming you. Rowe said a recurring theme in his songwriting is “the duality that I feel is in all of us. All the hidden parts, and all the guts that spill out when we’re faced with tragedy, adversity, or a broken heart.”
Darkness captures this duality with stunning clarity, vulnerability, and catharsis. Rowe’s lived-in stories speak of wreckage, recovery, and redemption. Elevated by the skilled instrumental and production work of friends and admired collaborators, each one is truly a gift.
Key Tracks: What Are We Now, Honey In The Morning, Toast
Formed in 2014 by lead singer and songwriter Rob Morrison, The Booklights have cultivated a specific breed of futuristic Americana, equal parts orchestral and gritty. In addition to Morrison on guitar and mandolin, the band is made up of Lauren Molina (cello), Rachel Green (fiddle), and Benny Elledge (percussion). Their lofty vocal harmonies conjure up Appalachian psychedelia that speaks to the future of Americana and all facets of the genre.
When not playing with the Booklights, each member of the band can be found acting shows on Broadway, Off-Broadway, TV/film projects, composing scores, doing voiceover work, or playing in separate bands. The talented New York City-based group will release their debut EP, Into a Ball, on August 6 on all streaming and listening platforms.
NYS Music recently joined the members of The Booklights in a lighthearted tell-all to get to know the artists behind a new wave of Americana. The band discussed their multitalented backgrounds, upcoming music, creative process, group direction, and a recent surge of musical inspiration around the globe.
Matthew Perez Gin: The members of this group seem to have extensive backgrounds in acting, theater, comedy, and much more. How do you think this impacts not only the way you create music together but also perform together?
Rob Morrison: The Booklights are a pretty lively bunch, and we’re very instinctual. We know that as actors, it’s really important to follow our artistic impulses, so that carries over into how we make music. It’s not a judgmental group — we have a very encouraging vibe. I wouldn’t consider myself a natural leader, but as the primary songwriter and lead singer, I’m sort of the de facto leader of the band. And to me, that means harnessing the “yes, and” energy we all naturally bring to the table, rather than trying to be too controlling of any aspect of the band. And thankfully, with such funny people onstage with me, I don’t ever have to worry about coming up with good banter while I’m re-tuning my guitar.
Rachel Green: Being performers, we share a common language, respect and understanding. We’ve all had our fair share of amazing (and terrible) experiences as actors and musicians. I think that helps us be grateful for our time together, and makes working together fun and seamless. And we laugh a lot. Also our harmonies are sick. I love harmonies.
Benny Elledge: I think we all have a natural sense of play which helps in the creative process. We definitely all have similar performing backgrounds which makes for a lot of fun when we are together. It also helps because we aren’t afraid to try and fail at different attempts while coming up with parts.
We are all a bunch of funny people. When we make music it’s not just a gathering to make music, but make each other laugh. We enjoy the banter and the collaboration.
Lauren Molina
The Booklights perform live from Rockwood Music Hall
MPG: Who are some of your inspirations and influences?
RM: There are more influences than I can list…I always feel like I’m going to forget somebody important! For the Booklights’ music, one of my biggest inspirations would be Gillian Welch and David Rawlings. Their music is hugely important to me, in not only in terms of how beautiful or haunting it can be, but because of their massive encyclopedic knowledge of folk music forms, the way they’re able to, say, reference a Son House lyric in the middle of their own song, and what that does for the listener…for me, my brain flags the homage, but also feels transported to another time and place. And it makes their music feel timeless. That’s a really powerful effect. Bob Dylan, Neil Young, The Band, John Prine, Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Norman Blake, Lucinda Williams, Gram Parsons, and Townes Van Zandt are other big influences of mine from the world of (arguably) Americana. But I listen to a wide variety of music, a lot of which has shaped our music in more subtle ways. Some of my favorites include Radiohead, Soft Machine, Big Star, Fleetwood Mac, Randy Newman, the Kinks, the Bats, Tom Waits, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and of course the Velvet Underground.
RG: It really runs the gamut. I’m a huge fan of 90s hip hop and R&B, but I’m also classically trained on the violin and did musical theater for years. I love all kinds of soulful voices, from Aretha Franklin to Stevie Nicks. But also playing with bands and teaching myself to play in more of a fiddle style, I learned to really appreciate 70s rock, country and folk. The Band is iconic.
BE: My music tastes span a pretty wide range. As a percussionist, I love so much stuff from Buddy Rich to Neil Peart, Clyde Stubblefield, Carter Beauford. There are so many. I also grew up with drummers in my family, both my dad and brother are drummers as well so it’s always been important to me.
MPG: When you look at the current presence of Americana within the music industry today, where do you see it going in the future? What are you excited about and how do you plan to be a part of it?
RG: Both bands I’ve played with considered themselves some version of Americana. I think Americana is moving in the direction of society’s growth, where diversity is being more and more embraced. As an artist, for years I was told to “concentrate on one thing and get good at it. you’re spinning too many plates.” Nowadays, being a multi-hyphenate is accepted and encouraged. Humans are dynamic – why shouldn’t their music be? Plus, combining multiple influences makes for some really cool music.
RM: I think we’re at a really exciting time in Americana music…one of my favorite bands, Our Native Daughters, dropped one of the best Americana albums ever just a few years ago. And now all of those incredible women in that band (Rhiannon Giddens, Amythyst Kiah, Allison Russell, and Leyla McCalla) continue to release absolutely mind-blowing work, and are really making waves. I think the folk music scene is going through a lot of the same, necessary changes that our country is reckoning with. There have always been amazing artists of color, in every music genre. These traditions have been practiced by a wide variety of people, in some cases for centuries. I think the more inclusive the Americana/folk/country music scenes become, the better that is for everybody, and the better it is for the art form.
BE: I don’t know if I can really speak to the presence of Americana. I am thrilled that artists like The Avett Brothers and Brandi Carlisle have come into the mainstream and people are excited about them. But honestly I’m just excited to be performing in any aspect, especially after this last year.
MPG: Clearly, Americana music has so many different musical facets, origins, and explanations behind it. What is “futuristic Americana” to you and how would you define it?
BE: Um… Rob?
RM: Well, I think “Americana” is a really intriguing term to start with. Imperfect, but intriguing. It’s not “United States of Americana”…it’s not even “North Americana.” So it could be applied to music from so many regions! And I think that’s lovely because so many of these musical forms that we might consider “Americana” are the result of so many groups of people interacting with each other — immigrants settling in a given area, and their music mingling with and being changed by music from other groups of people, either indigenous, or from other immigrant groups. A melting pot. As for “futuristic Americana,” that term was coined by a friend of ours. I gave him an advance copy of the EP, and asked him if any words came to mind to describe our music, because I felt a little too close to the songs to be able to describe them. For me, “futuristic Americana” indicates a willingness to bend tradition, and mix in sounds and textures that your average listener might not associate with folk music. I have a lot of reverence for musical tradition, but none of the songs on the EP are traditional songs. So it’s helpful to be able to dip into “traditional” or familiar sounds when we need to; it’s also helpful to channel Radiohead or Low, and get spaced out and eerie at times.
RG: I think Americana in the past was associated a lot with country, folk, and bluegrass. We definitely have a lot of those influences but also incorporate some cool rock sounds and other ambient and unusual styles and effects.
MPG: The Booklights is such a unique name for a band, can you tell us the story behind it?
BE: Hahahaha! Um……Rob?
RG: That’s you, Rob.
RM: Ha! So, funny story. At our very first live show (Spike Hill in Brooklyn, 2014) I played the first half of the set solo, then invited the band up onstage for the second half. I told the band in advance that I’d christen them with a surprise name at the gig, so when they joined me onstage, I said, “please welcome to the stage: The Booklights!” The response was hilariously underwhelming. But the name stuck! I realize it sounds like the object: a book light. That wasn’t the inspiration, but I don’t mind the connection. The inspiration for me was that feeling of writing a song, by myself, at night, with a candle or small bedside lamp throwing a little pool of light on my notebook, illuminating my ideas one line at a time. Writing is a very private experience for me; it’s almost like the only witness to my process is whatever light source is near me. Definitely not something the average person would deduce from hearing our band name, but I’m okay with that. And on the plus side, there weren’t a slew of pre-existing bands called the Booklights.
MPG: Your songs seem to invoke images, musical realism, and a strong ethos for so many listeners. What do you think is the importance of storytelling in your songs, and how do you go about finding that perfect story-song balance?
RM: There is a delicate balance between story and feeling. I think my approach to songwriting is to usually leave a lot up to the listener to decide; kind of a David Lynch approach to songcraft, if you will. It’s not important to me for everyone who listens to “Waywiser” to have the same idea of what it means. Individual interpretation is so much more exciting! Lyrical details are important. I can’t stand songs that say something like, “I love you, you’re my desire, you’re so hot, you’re like fire.” Oof. What do you love about that person? Can you find a way to say it without literally saying it? “My Woman, the Almanac” is about as straightforward a love song as I’ve written, but it doesn’t come right out and say much about love. There’s a lot of specific imagery, poetry in that song. The language hints at that feeling of romantic love. The listener goes on the journey, with the speaker of the song, and maybe they get something totally different from what I intended when I wrote it. Again, that’s really exciting to me, not a bad thing.
MPG: Your new EP Into A Ball comes out on August 6, would you mind delving into the creative process that went behind developing this, perhaps some of your starting points musically or lyrically?
RM: The Booklights were an active gigging band in 2014 and 2015…I broke my wrist in 2015, we took a little break while I healed, and then we all got pulled in so many directions as artists, so the band was on an unofficial hiatus until the pandemic hit. Like so many people, I lost employment opportunities, and of course we were all quarantining in our apartments, and it was a really hard time. I started looking back at all the projects I’ve been lucky enough to be a part of, and I thought, “gee, why didn’t the Booklights ever record anything? We’ve got so many great songs!” So I started talking with Lauren, Benny, and Rachel about making a record remotely. We tapped the wonderful James Frazee to produce, mix, and master the EP. James is incredible…I had a really great time incorporating his adjustments and ideas, things like adding or removing a chorus, layering in new overdubs that had never existed on a song before, that kind of thing. The whole process was honestly one of the few bright spots of 2020 for me. As for the creative process for the songs themselves, many of them date back to our time as a gigging band, some even before that. “Waywiser” was inspired by a trip to the Ben Franklin Museum (a waywiser is essentially an old-fashioned odometer, which Franklin built), and “My Woman, the Almanac” was written during a solo cabin retreat I took in the Catskills in 2011, inspired by my relationship with Lauren as well as all the nature I was taking in. I had the melody for “Slingshot” in my head for a while, but was having trouble with the lyrics, so Lauren and I collaborated and wound up with a playful song about summer flirtation. “Sweeter on the Vine” doesn’t sound anything like the 1930s blues and novelty songs I was listening to at the time, but it was definitely inspired by the work of folks like Bo Carter, the Memphis Jug Band, and the Dallas String Band. And “All Tomorrow’s Parties” …well that’s just one of my all-time favorite Velvet Underground songs. It works perfectly with the droney, space-folk approach we gave it on the EP.
BE: It was very interesting to record an entire album alone in our apartments without the others being there. And with no “in the moment” directions. But it was a great experience to learn that that was possible.
Rob is the major force behind the music, these songs are his creations. He comes with melody, lyrics, chords and vision, and then trusts us to build the “house” around it. All of our harmonies (instrumentally and vocally)
Rachel Green
MPG: What does this debut EP mean to you and what kind of mark do you aim to leave on fans listening to it?
RM: I’m honestly in awe of the end result. I’m so proud of everybody who came together to make this record. That includes our special guests Jay Julio (viola on “My Woman, the Almanac”) and Hilary Hawke (banjo and backup vocals on “Slingshot”) as well as our incredible visual artist, Elanor Gabriela. Making a record during the pandemic was challenging, but not making a record would’ve been even harder! Into a Ball is an apt title, because the EP rolls together all these genres, sounds, and emotions that we as musicians like to play with, and collects them into one, succinct 5-song statement. Working on the EP was a wonderful escape during a time when I really needed to be somewhere other than in the confines of my apartment; I hope it provides listeners with an aural escape too!
LM: I’m so proud of everyone involved in making this album. I love the songs and how each one takes you to a different place. I hope people feel something when they listen to it.
BE: I’m just really proud of us for getting something done during Covid and more proud of Rob for spearheading it and writing such amazing music and being such a great leader. I’m very happy the world gets to finally hear his music. I think people will really dig his unique style and his take on the “Americana” genre.
I really love how each of our songs tells a different story and has a different sound. I think fans will be taken on a journey, from breezy chillaxin’ to rockin’ out.
Rachel Green
MPG: You have also recently released a music video for the track “My Woman, The Almanac” on the EP, how was that experience for everyone? Can we expect to see more music videos in the future?
RM: Making the music video was such a joy. I want to give major kudos to our team Varya Rootwood (director), Yura Makarov (DP), Mackenzie Jamieson (key PA), David Withrow (wardrobe), and our hosts, the Big Victorian in Chester, NY. That shoot was a leap of faith; a few days earlier, we had lost our director and location, so Varya and Yura were brought on at the last minute. And they absolutely nailed it. I couldn’t have asked for a more professional team. It was also the first time our full band had hung out together in quite a while, so the camaraderie was through the roof! We hope to have another music video in the near future; I’ve been really interested in doing a stop-motion version of “Waywiser.”
LM: Shooting the music video was a blast. It was such a beautiful place with bucolic imagery. We shot it at an old Victorian mansion that had a dilapidated and beautiful feel. It was set upon a green hillside with a red barn and a swing on a tree. Our music fit so perfectly with the setting. It was magical. I hope to make more videos. It’s always fun to put a visual with a song.
RG: Working on the music video was a wonderful experience, from the amazing location to the costumes to the creative team. It was also the first time we got to hang out as a band (and friends) in 6 years! It also gave me a deeper connection to the song and its meaning or what it could mean. It was a truly beautiful day all around.
MPG: Does Into A Ball mark a new aim and direction for the band?
RM: Well, the Booklights had never recorded any of our songs before this EP, so in that way it’s a very new direction for us! We played a lot of shows in 2014-2015, so that was always our focus; putting together exciting sets of live music. It was a very different experience to take each song apart, role by role, or sound by sound, and decide what belonged in a recording, and what songs wanted a little extra juice. In the Booklights’ live shows, I usually play a resonator guitar, acoustic guitar, and mandolin. Having the flexibility to record on our own schedules, in our own homes, opened up a lot of possibilities. At James’ suggestion, I added some electric guitar overdubs to “Waywiser” and “All Tomorrow’s Parties,” tipping my hat a bit to British folk bands of the 70s like Fairport Convention, Pentangle, and Steeleye Span. Lauren layered several cellos on top of each other for “All Tomorrow’s Parties” and Rachel did the same with fiddle for that song. We created all new harmonies; “All Tomorrow’s Parties” had always been a solo vocal song for me, but we went all out with some strange, modal group vocals for the album. And adding wonderful outside musicians like Jay and Hilary also opened things up. It became less about replicating our live shows, and more about sculpting a cohesive, transportive sound for the whole record. So that was a really unique experience, to look at these songs in a whole new way.
LM: I’d say this was definitely a new aim as the debut album. The pandemic brought us back together after not playing for a few years due to people’s schedules. This new music feels like it’s blossoming into the world as it reopens.
This new music feels like it’s blossoming into the world as it reopens.
Lauren Molina
MPG: What is one message you would like to give to your fans and listeners?
BE: We know it’s been a tough year for everyone and this album is a great representation of pushing through and making something good come out of a bad situation. So thank you to everyone for listening! We hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed making it!
RG: Do what you love, follow your own path and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
LM: Be good. Be kind. Keep others on your mind.
To anyone who listens to this record, I want to say thank you, from the bottom of my heart. We made this EP at a time when I wasn’t sure at all about what the future held, for live musicians, as well as for the world. But we still somehow created something, in spite of all that uncertainty. So, if anyone feels inspired by the music on the EP, that would be the greatest reward.
Rob Morrison
Tracklisting For Into A Ball: EP By The Booklights
Based in Bovina, NY, Esquela released their fifth studio album A Sign From God on June 25th. The album features 10 tracks, produced by Eric “Roscoe” Ambel, and was recorded entirely remotely throughout the COVID-19 pandemic which prevented members from getting together to record during the Spring and Summer of 2020.
Esquela, via bandsintown.com
Over the course of several months, Finn wrote all the songs on the record, except the final track, “Wait For Me” which utilized a poem by Konstantin Simonov and was arranged musically by Becca Frame and Brian Shafer. He then sent bits of songs to Roscoe, involving Keith Christopher on bass, Brian Shafer on guitar, Becca Frame on vocals and Matt Woodin on guitars and mandolin, and Mike Ricciardi on drums with the audio engineering accompaniment of Jeff Stachyra. Their individual parts were woven together by their brilliant engineer, spinning a 70’s style overdub in a completely remote 2020 world.
Once the reality of COVID 19 hit us, nobody knew what was going to happen and for how long our normal routines would be disrupted. Since I was homebound for the duration – I decided that I should get my home recording studio up and running again. After weeks of technical frustration– I was finally able to get my home setup cobbled together with a Universal Audio Apollo interface and my MacBook, using Protools recording software.
Bandleader John “Chico” Finn
Amidst a race war and global pandemic, the album captures the cultural conversation surrounding the time, including addressing sensitive topics that unfolded during the year like racism, sexual assault and climate change. The first track on the album, which premiered ahead of the others, addresses climate change and humanity’s impact on Earth. “Not In My Backyard” was inspired by a conversation that transpired between Finn and a friend about fracking in West Virginia. Between the rhythmic guitar riffs and pulsing drum beat, a larger message lies at the core of the song.
The bottom line is that energy is cheap right now…in order for the climate to improve will mean people will have to pay more for their energy source, and I am afraid it won’t happen anytime soon, sad to say.
John “Chico” Finn
Premiering as Esquela’s first album since 2017, the band chose to tackle pressing issues about the world, spreading a message while telling a narrative throughout each song. The last song, “Wait For Me,” has a more stripped sonic atmosphere with soft acoustic guitar and less processed vocals. The song tells the story of Konstantin Simonov and a poem he wrote as a homesick Russian soldier during World War II. Esquela uses the poem as a vessel to acknowledge racism in the deep South, much like the French village of Oradour Sur Glane destroyed by Nazis within the poem.
With Esquela, challenge brings creativity. The album is a true testament that challenge breeds creativity amidst the pandemic. Even prevented from taking a band photo all together for the cover art, they crafted a creative solution to replicate images of them in a fun illustration pictured below. While COVID-19 forced the members to send over the tracks individually, the cohesiveness of these tracks expands beyond Roscoe’s phenomenal work as a producer. These songs tell a narrative about what we need to change as a society in 2020 (and now, its roots have spread into 2021).
The album is now available on Bandcamp or Spotify, with a music video for “Not In My Backyard” on Youtube.
