NYC Scene Report – Anna Rose, KALEN, & Rebel Kicks

This week’s NYC Scene Report features Anna Rose getting us through the night, KALEN rising like a “Phoenix,” and Rebel Kicks finding they might prefer a “Silhouette” over reality.

* I’ve been featuring Anna Rose on this site for over a decade, and in that time I’ve heard her perform everything from blues, to rock n roll, to singer-songwriter fare that can tug at your heartstrings. Based on the first few releases from her latest project, Last Girl of the Rodeo, she’s continuing to be inspired by taking her music in new directions.

With more electronic production than her previous work, Rose is describing Last Girl of the Rodeo as an autobiographical concept album, and she’s releasing it one song per month for the entire year. In February she gave listeners “Whatever Gets You Through The Night.”

“This song is about falling in love at first sight with someone you know you can never end up with,” she said in a statement, “It’s Romeo and Juliet. It’s exquisite torture. It’s knowing that you can’t handle your heart being shattered again, but being unable to stop the train that’s already moving. Questioning your ability to love at all, after so much heartbreak. Hanging on every word they say, and agonizing in the wait between.”

As with everything she’s done in the past, it’s no surprise that she absolutely crushes this latest musical endeavor. “Whatever Gets You Through The Night” will absolutely get anyone through the night as we await what’s next from Last Girl of the Rodeo.

* Brooklyn artist KALEN has created something beautiful from something tragic with her recently released single, “Phoenix.”

Off her new EP, Silence Like Sirens, the song was inspired by the passing of a friend’s second child. “I couldn’t fathom the pain they went through,” KALEN said in a statement, “Now, as a mother myself, it’s even more difficult to imagine.”

A soaring indie pop anthem that turns turns tragedy into triumph, as “Phoenix” rises it inspires. Click play, and spread your wings and fly with KALEN.

* In the dating world I think we’ve all, at least once or twice, built someone up to almost mythically great proportions, only to be let down when we find out that person is nothing like we imagined them to be. This was the inspiration for Rebel Kicks’ recently released single “Silhouette.”

Guitarist/vocalist Anthony Babino – who makes up one half of the indie rock duo alongside his brother Steven – discussed the song in a statement, saying, “‘Silhouette’ is a fun, upbeat song about realizing that you’ve built up an unrealistic, idealized version of someone in your head, but once you get to know them, you wish you could go back to before you met.”

If you haven’t yet been introduced to the music of Rebel Kicks, click play on “Silhouette.” I guarantee you’ll be glad you met.

For more of the best of NYC’s indie music scene, come back next Wednesday, and check out the archives for previous columns.