A Heady Saturday Morning for You
Variable Happiness and endless psychedelia from Edsel Axle, a.k.a. Rosali
Mid-August. I never know what to call this time of year. Is it the dog days? The air feels like football. The sun’s a bit lower. Some days, with that soft, light breeze, even a hot coffee seems like the right choice. Time spins forward, like it always does. But there’s more meaning to it now. We’re not lost on the boat anymore. The finishing line of our endless summer is in the distance. It’s still far away, but you can see it, right there, just over the horizon. Change is afoot. Something will be different soon. New beginnings. Back to school, back to school…
On this Saturday morning, I’m currently lost on Variable Happiness, a heady and meditative blast of psychedelia by Edsel Axle — better known as Rosali. At six tracks, it’s a brief and expansive school in guitar work, exhuding a profound sense of longing without singing a single word. There’s no desperation here, either. No attempt at a high score or perfection. The guitar playing is fluid and beautiful and confident and brilliant, like a ballerina dancing effortlessly through pain.
Variable Happiness was released yesterday by a cool indie label out of the UK called Worried Songs. It was recorded last August by Rosali directly to a four-track cassette in her own home in North Carolina. That might be why it sounds so good right now, eh? A sprawling, psychedelic sigh let out from the couch.
Trust me. Flip on “Some Answer” and see what happens to your brain. (And buy an LP, why not?)
It’s also worth noting that one of my most played albums over the last few years is Rosali’s No Medium, a riff-heavy, introspective record that wants to be played loud. She sings on this one, bringing a hearty, guttural voice rooted in wisdom.
In particular, the album’s opener “Mouth” slyly kicks ass, the kind of slow-grooving, quietly confident song that punches forward while channeling nostalgia. I love to listen to this album while driving. Sometimes I stick my head out of the window like a dog.
Music is an escape, to run from the things that chase you, to push pause on life’s responsibilities. Beyond that, an actual tool to transform ourselves and our minds. Why do we think that things need to be one way? Or the other way? Why can’t they be all the ways? The path I’ve chosen has gotten me here, sitting in a kitchen I never would’ve dreamed of sitting. Where did yours take you? What do your shoes look like today? Hit decline on that incoming call. Keep the song going. Look out the window. A cloud dissipates. The day is young and what’s coming for you is still to be written. Adventures are meant to be had and magic is meant to be real.