Rosemary & Garlic Releases Enchanting New Album ‘A Room of One’s Own’ Inspired By Virginia Woolf Today
March 17, 2023 BY Jason Currell
Dutch dream-pop/folk act Rosemary & Garlic’s (lead by Anne van den Hoogen) soft and sweetly introspective new album A Room of One’s Own is out today with Nettwerk. Listen to Rosemary & Garlic’s most intimate work to date HERE.
The new album is inspired by Virginia Woolf’s famous essay “A Room of One’s Own”, published almost 100 years ago, explaining that a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction. Nearly a century later Anne found a fresh start for herself in the Dutch countryside, and for the first time, she had a space of peace and quiet: A room of her own to work in.
“The contemplations in the songs are about taking time for reflection, about having trust in change, in making decisions, letting go of certain patterns or people and embracing the moment just as it is,” explains Anne van den Hoogen. “During the writing process, I became pregnant with my son. Looking back at the process, I realize that through these songs I cleared up my own space and started making room for him.”
Rosemary & Garlic songs are often small observations grabbed from normal life, dealing with emotions and expectations, grief – very human things. “In my music I like to explore and play with perception, which finds its way into the lyrics and arrangements of the songs. I also try to have an eye for people who are a bit vulnerable. My song ‘Television’ tells the story of an older lady in a nursery home who feels her identity is taken away from her. I want people to feel seen.”
Today, Rosemary & Garlic also shares her ethereal new song “Goodbye” today. Watch the music video to the track, offering a heartwarming and fond farewell to a relationship, HERE.
A Room of One’s Own tracklist:
- Midlands
- Goodbye
- Their Eyes on Me
- Summer
- Television
- The Murmur of the Sea
- Interlude I
- Alfie
- Caught in a Dream
- Interlude II
- American Boy
Rosemary & Garlic started as a duo consisting of singer/guitarist Anne van den Hoogen and keyboardist/guitarist Dolf Smolenaers. They self-released their first EP, The Kingfisher in 2015. Over the months that followed, their song “Old Now” accumulated millions of plays on streaming sites, and the EP became a folk best-seller on Bandcamp. Their full-length debut, simply titled Rosemary & Garlic, followed in early 2018 via Nettwerk. The arrival of A Room of One’s Own marks a promising return for Rosemary & Garlic yet sparks a new, fresh resonance for the project. The album sees Anne van den Hoogen coming into her own as a purveyor of lush and lilting indie folk music accompanied by Smolenaers as co-producer for this album.
