Vibrating from the quietest spaces of feeling and memory, Ohio-based OH ROSA's latest single, "Mary (I Am Here but I Am Gone)", becomes a lesson in restraint and atmospheric tale-telling. This intimate track is the latest from the couple of Rosie Benson and Fran. There's a fragility to Mary that doesn't demand attention but quietly claims it. Rosie's voice breathes life into every syllable, as though each line is yanked straight from the ribcage. There's the lived-in quality of her delivery, as if she's singing from a point that's not quite here, yet not quite gone, a liminal space that mirrors the title with uncanny precision.
Fran's instrumentation is particularly spare, but highly suggestive and evocative. Every note on the guitar sounds carefully selected, every bass touch is subtle but grounding. The surprise arrival of the mouth organ ghosts in, draping a wash of old world sadness over proceedings, and clothes the tone of the track like a second skin. What sets this release apart is the sincerity that buzzes at its heart. OH ROSA is opening a window and giving us a peek at something quiet and personal. There is a specific kind of lovely discomfort here, both a sense of presence and its partner absence, being connected to something that's already beginning to slip away.
"Mary (I Am Here but I Am Gone)" doesn't exactly bellow its meaning from the rooftops. It taps its message sweetly into your chest and seems confident that you will feel it. It's a track for walks and yearnings you can't quite name. With this single, OH ROSA shows that it's building little emotional worlds, one whispered lyric and a lonely mouth organ line at a time.