Esther Rose is excited to announce the release of her new album Safe to Run on April 21. The 11-track set was produced by Ross Farbe in New Orleans, LA and Placitas, New Mexico and is the follow up to 2021’s acclaimed How Many Times. Alongside longtime collaborators Farbe and Lyle Werner, Safe to Run also features the acclaimed New Orleans based band Silver Synthetic on many songs, Cameron Snyder of The Deslondes, as well as Alynda Segarra of Hurray for the Riff Raff on the title track, a gorgeous duet that directly merges the personal with the global, superimposing feelings of spiritual displacement onto the larger, looming dread of climate grief.
Safe to Run is the quiet culmination of years spent fully immersed in a developing artistry and presents Rose’s always vividly detailed emotional scenes with new levels of clarity and control. Her songwriting transfigures the chaos and uncertainty of a life in progress, but here she introduces a newfound pop element that attaches unshakably catchy hooks to even the darkest stretches of the journey. The album’s production takes a giant step forward. The open-air, live-in-the-room sound she tended towards in the past has been exchanged for an exploration of multitracking and overdubs.
She has also shared the video for the album’s first single, ‘Chet Baker.’ Of the song, Rose says, “Someone sent me a DM, asking ‘do you remember me.’ I was transported into a decade-old memory; a weird weekend with a crew of dangerous college preps, a car crash. What came out is this short study of my townie life in Ann Arbor. As I was writing this song, it occurred to me how lucky I was to have survived that time of willful recklessness. I wanted to empathize with my younger self, like, ‘it’s alright, you were 23. You were out of control. I got you now. You’re okay.’”
Safe to Run:
- Stay
- Chet Baker
- Spider
- Safe to Run (feat. Hurray For The Riff Raff)
- St. Francis Waltz
- New Magic II
- Dream Girl
- Insecure
- Levee Song
- Full Value
- Arm’s Length
