WATCH AND SHARE “THE BENEFITS OF BEING ALONE” HERE
BRAVADO OUT FEBRUARY 21, 2020 VIA OUTSIDE MUSIC
TOUR DATES CONTINUE TODAY - WITH PATTY GRIFFIN & JOHN PAUL WHITE
PRE-ORDER BRAVADO HERE
Photo Credit : Lindsay Duncan // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES
JUNO Award winning songwriter Rose Cousins’ newest offering, Bravado, is the sound of a heart trying to open. It explores the complication of emotion, its irrational tendencies and its wisdom. It invites us to feel the courage it takes to be vulnerable. Today, Cousins shares the video for the first single from the album, “The Benefits Of Being Alone”, co-directed by Shehab Illyas and Cousins with illustrator Hannah Emmett. “I saw the whole video play in my head shortly after we finished recording the song,” says Cousins. “I imagined a Wes Anderson type scene, contrived and idyllic, with many hands helping to hold the whole thing together. This video, song and my new record, Bravado, are about juxtaposition. What version of what story is true?”
WATCH AND SHARE “THE BENEFITS OF BEING ALONE” HERE
Set for release on February 21, 2020 via Outside Music, Bravado is a record for those who struggle with loneliness and those wishing they had more time alone. It’s for those attempting to make their hearts go in more than one direction and those trying to make it go in just one. It’s for those who present a version of themselves to the world that doesn’t quite match how they feel inside. It’s for those who feel misunderstood or unseen. It’s for those who have a hard time saying what they feel, who hide or can’t let themselves off the hook. It’s for those asking, ‘is this it?’ and questioning if the character they play in the movie of their lives is authentic or just a role they’ve accepted. It’s for those who have a hard time asking for help and for those desperate for and terrified of change.
“I think about how we're so disconnected,” says Cousins. “I get sucked into my phone and forget to go for a walk because of this sense of obligation that I have that convinces me to get as much work done as possible. It feels like we’re not connecting in person as much as we used to and that we may be the loneliest we've ever been. We're missing what's actually happening, like, the earth being on fire. We get caught in the spin of comparing our lives to social media depictions, false standards of a good life. I’ve been thinking about how we must be getting close to a breaking point."
For Cousins, this chapter is a personal and professional metamorphosis. She is in the producer chair, applying her years of experience, trusting her own ear and pulling thoughtfully from her network of talented colleagues.
“I booked some studio days in February with the intention of making a single and working with some Toronto based musicians I’d always wanted to including Joshua Van Tassel on drums, Robbie Grunwald on keys, Brian Kobayakawa on bass, Dean Drouillard on electric guitars and with Chris Stringer as engineer. Soon after, I realized I was chasing a theme and a feeling I’d been pondering for months and it turned into a whole record of, perhaps, my best writing.”
The record is flanked by two distinct renditions of the same song, “The Benefits of Being Alone” and “The Reprise” reinforcing the record's examination of emotional duality. Though the journey starts in Bravado’s swagger, it asks us to pause at tracks like “The Fraud” and “The Time Being (Impending Mortality Awareness Society)”, reminding and inviting us to be honest and present. The album lifts to its highest level of hope and most pop production in “The Return (Love Comes Back)”, exploiting Cousins’ collaborative nature as an international choir of friends joins in at the end. “The Lullaby (My Oldest Love)” written with Tim Baker (Hey Rosetta!), touches the desperate need for affirmation, “The Benediction (A Good Woman)”, a yearning for acceptance.
Recently, Rose Cousins shared her version of Prince’s classic, “I Would Die 4 U”, recorded together with Bear’s Den and Christof van der Ven while all were serendipitously in Toronto on a day off from tour.
LISTEN AND SHARE “I WOULD DIE 4 U” (PRINCE COVER) HERE
Cousins' last project, Natural Conclusion, received notable acclaim, including a nomination for a 2018 Grammy Award, a nomination for Songwriter of the Year award at the 2018 JUNO Awards, and three wins at the East Coast Music Awards. Cousins also writes for film and TV and her songs have appeared on the programs Grey's Anatomy, Supergirl, Reign, and Nashville, among others. She has shared stages with heroic songwriters such as Patty Griffin, Shawn Colvin, Lori McKenna, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Jann Arden, and Ron Sexsmith.
This month, Cousins continues on the road supporting Patty Griffin on Nov 9th and 10th, and will return to Canada in March of 2020 with John Paul White. Full tour dates can be found below.
PRE-ORDER BRAVADO HERE
BRAVADO TRACKLIST
01 The Benefits of Being Alone
02 The Expert
03 The Agreement
04 The Fraud
05 The Time Being (Impending Mortality Awareness Society)
06 The Din
07 The Return (Love Comes Back)
08 The Swimmer (To Be an Old Man)
09 The Lullaby (My Oldest Love)
10 The Benediction (A Good Woman)
11 The Reprise (The Benefits of Being Alone)
PRAISE FOR ROSE COUSINS
“The simplicity of these songs is deceiving; as sparse as they feel, her voice draws you in until you realize you are at the heart of the storm” - The Guardian
“deeply caresses her exquisite vocals through a dozen songs that form an exploratory, intimate meditation on the mysteries of being human” - LA Times
"When Rose Cousins sings she soars and swoops, never to show off but always in service to the song" - The Washington Post
“hazily atmospheric and strikingly intimate” - Montreal Gazette
“Rose Cousins strips songs to their pointed and somber essence” - The Philadelphia Inquirer
“an emotional landscape full of beauty and conquest” - No Depression
“intimate, acoustic and beautiful” - Exclaim!
TOUR DATES
Nov 8 - Truro, NS - The First United Church For NSMW
Nov 9 - Boothbay Harbour, ME - The Opera House *
Nov 10 - Montreal, QC - Cafe Campus *
Nov 12 - Troy, NY - Troy Savings Bank MusicHall *
Mar 5 - Toronto, ON - Danforth Music Hall ^
Mar 6 - Ottawa, ON - NAC Babs Asper Theatre ^
Mar 19 - Halifax, NS - Rebecca Cohn Auditorium ^
Mar 20 - Fredericton, NB - Wilmot United Church ^
Mar 21 - Charlottetown, PEI - Confederation Centre of the Arts ^
* with Patty Griffin
^ with John Paul White
