ROSïE and THE BEES

• DEC 24, 2013 •
SHINE ON, SOLDIER: THE SITAR-SOAKED SOUNDS OF ROSIE HENSHAW
BY LLOYD BRADFORD SYKE

The opening bars of Rosie Henshaw’s debut single Sunshine Soldier sound like the beginnings of a soundtrack to a Bollywood movie. There aren’t too many young women anywhere near the jazz-pop space that play sitar — not even that famous daughter of Ravi Shankar, Norah Jones. But Henshaw is a multi-instrumentalist, so, for example, you’ll see her playing electric bass in the official video for the song. On guitar, facepainted as some kind of sprite, you might recognise Banel Martinez from Gang of Brothers and Byron Mark on keyboards and percussion.

Henshaw radiates positive energy, so when she reflects that “across the page, letters are spread like sand; what you’re trying to say is that life has been hard on you,” you tend to nod in knowing agreement. At last, someone sees and understands your pain. And when she encourages you to “express your heart and let those words flow like water”, it’s better than therapy. She’s given you permission to open the floodgates, let the tears tumble out in a fitful, cathartic torrent, so that you, too can “come out of the dark” and become the sunshine soldier she exhorts you and us all to be.

Andro Martinez, wearing his producer’s hat, has brought finesse to Henshaw’s own sensitivity. It’s subtle, but even as she’s singing about that page, Byron Mark, by the sound of it, is gently crunching up a piece of paper, in the background. But it’s that simple, sweet, innocent sitar motif, hypnotic and childlike, in the way of a magical fairytale, that first induces the possibility of letting go of all that angst and beaming a big, broad smile out to the world. Rosie isn’t the only one who can do that, I suppose, but there are precious few who can. She’s like a down-under Dalai Lama, with much prettier hair.

So where did all this peace and harmony come from? Well, like most people, Rosie didn’t choose her family, let alone the places she was brought up. But unlike most, she had a classical singer for a mother, a funk aficionado for a father and was schooled in the Himalayas. Hence the sitar. She took up singing around the same time and by the ripe old age of seven, had already performed in front of audiences numbered in thousands. I guess that’s got to instil some equanimity, so, by thirteen, she was songwriting and accompanying herself on guitar. As you do.

If you’ve got the blues, are wound tight, or it’s just another, hot Sunday afternoon, Rosie Henshaw will bring you a tall glass of hand-squeezed lemonade, clinking with big blocks of ice. It tingles on the way down and is laced with just a little sugar. If we all responded to this recruitment drive, we’d never need a standing army. The world would be a peaceful place. - Daily Review

JAN 1, 2014 •
ROSIE AND THE BEES: MUSIC REVIEW
By Lloyd Bradford Syke

Music is the second single from Rosie Henshaw’s (just Rosie, to you) forthcoming debut album and follows closely in the funky, sunny footsteps of the first, with an a cappella introductory vocal that states happy truth: music is an axis which the world revolves around. Well, acappella, if you discount Buddy Siolo assertively laying down the beat and a few licks of guitar from Banel Martinez. The production (by Andro Martinez) is as clean, clear, crisp and elemental as Rosie’s rosy view of the world.

With a thousand people dead after the South Sudanese bloodbath of recent days, to name but one global conflict, it’s not only replenishing, but vital, to be reminded of what’s possible, with a change of outlook. It’s not, as some might self-righteously argue, denial, but a wholehearted attempt to live by positive example. And, as with music, ‘you don’t have to practice, you just open up your mind’. Easy to say. Difficult to do. But a challenge worth rising to.

Written by Rosie, Byron Mark & Banel Martinez (who, if you add Buddy boy, form, appropriately enough, The Bees) the song sports a bunch of old school funk sounds, or at least echoes of such, and a bunch of new ones, too. Rosie’s vocals aren’t entirely focussed on the lyrics: she has a style which sometimes sacrifices a few words here and there to musicality, but it’s precious little to pay for her stylistic imprint. She plays (among numerous other instruments) a mean electric bass, too. Better yet, she’s not prone to showing off for its own sake She keeps it simple, which is entirely in keeping with her message. Likewise, Banel Martinez’ rhythm guitar, with its light, jingle-jangly chords. Byron Mark’s largely percussive keyboard effects tend to be the hero on this one: swishes, hisses, swirls, pulsations, blips and high-pitched whistles populate the atmosphere while Rosie waxes, raps and espouses her homespun, tuned-in, turned-on philosophy. There are hints of reggae and the Indian heritage in which Rosie was steeped from an early age.

Little sister Olympia has directed, filmed and edited another outdoorsy video, which puts Sydney’s privileged oceanic position front-and-centre. There’s Rosie, on a classic, sun-drenched, blue skied spring day (or what looks like it), soaking it up, amid daffodils and tall green grass, radiating all that good energy right backache, from a clifftop, replete with panoramic view. Bangles, head and armbands, Cleopatra necklaces and oversized rings bejewel her petite frame; her hair, scarves, skirts and harem pants billow in the breeze while she practises a kind of choreographic yoga and cartwheels across the hilltop like the irrepressibly happy soul she gives every sign of being. And there she is, plugging her headphones into the nearest tree, flower, or rock face, tuning into nature, vibrating harmonically. It’s everything the music suggests. A breath of fresh air. There’s even a full-on kaleidoscopic sequence worthy of sixties psychedelia. All you need do is ‘let that music cloak you in a warm blanket of peace’. - Daily Review

FIRST SPIN, VIDEO SOULBOUNCE
ROSïE Shines Bright In 'Sunshine Soldier'

Sydney-based multi-instrumentalist and singer/songwriter ROSïE shows that the nu soul movement need not be a strictly serious affair with the music video for her debut single "Sunshine Soldier." Happiness, radiant hues and, yes, you guessed it -- sunshine -- are abundant in the ethereal music video for the sitar led song. With its uplifting message and ROSïE's luminous vocals this track will be effortlessly ingrained in your brain and have you smiling to the skies. After one view of the video it's easy to see that "Sunshine Soldier" is the perfect antidote to the blues. Watch the "Sunshine Soldier" video after the bounce and get yourself acquainted with ROSïE over at Facebook (www.facebook.com/rosiehenshawmusic) - Kitten Jam - Soul Bounce

FIRST SPIN, VIDEO SOULBOUNCE
ROSïE Shines Bright In 'Sunshine Soldier'

Sydney-based multi-instrumentalist and singer/songwriter ROSïE shows that the nu soul movement need not be a strictly serious affair with the music video for her debut single "Sunshine Soldier." Happiness, radiant hues and, yes, you guessed it -- sunshine -- are abundant in the ethereal music video for the sitar led song. With its uplifting message and ROSïE's luminous vocals this track will be effortlessly ingrained in your brain and have you smiling to the skies. After one view of the video it's easy to see that "Sunshine Soldier" is the perfect antidote to the blues. Watch the "Sunshine Soldier" video after the bounce and get yourself acquainted with ROSïE over at Facebook (www.facebook.com/rosiehenshawmusic) - Kitten Jam - Soul Bounce

Written by: Lloyd bradford (brad) syke

I've seen, heard and reviewed Martinez Akustica a number of times now. I never tire of doing so, for every performance, even if numerous of the same tunes are played, is fresh and vital. I discover their music anew, as if for the first time. I've the feeling they do too. MA is Victor, the elder, the maestro, the father; Andro, the backbone; Dauno, the showoff.

On this occasion, at 505, they had the warmest of warmups, in Rosie Henshaw, who's worth an extensive essay in her own right.

Hers is a kind of soulful, Brazilian jazz-pop, falling somewhere between Joni Mitchell, Ricky lee Jones, Norah Jones and Astrud Gilberto; for want of a better approximation. It's also been described as 'organic, acoustic soul'. Take your pick.

Apparently, and somewhat incongruously, Rosie spent her rootless, no-fixed-address childhood somewhere between Australia, India and Honkers. You'd never know she was weaned on Chinese opera, wafting from the temple over the road. Or that she learnt sitar (which is still very much on her menu) at her boarding school. In the Himalayas. And had audiences of literally thousands watch her dance. From the age of seven. To look at, or listen to her, you'd never guess any of that. It's improbable. But true. She was steeped, on the maternal side, in the classical (her mother sang). And on the paternal, in 'da funk' (her father had quite a record collection) .

She began to compose at 13, accompanying herself on guitar and, later, electric bass and percussion. She still does. Her sweet, whimsical songs (there's one about mosquitoes, if I heard correctly) are somehow, at the same time, moving and poignant, built around bass grooves. At other times, you might find her fronting The Bakery, an outrageous, fun-loving eleven-piece, or touring, internationally, with Old Man River. Her sound is curled-up-on-the-couch intimate; her presence quietly charismatic. But the most astounding biographical fact has to be she's not even twenty-three. She might be a mere spring chicken, but she's as well-seasoned as your Sunday chook. She has a debut album due later in the year (on which numerous of the Martinez dynasty will feature) and, if the songs she played last night are any indication, I'd be placing my order now. One of the younger Martinez brothers, Banel, featured on guitar, stylistically showing he's very much the son of the avant grade Victor, but with his own, very distinctive skew. Rosie afforded him generous space in which to strut his stuff. Percussionist, Sandro Bueno, was on cajon.

I can't pretend I could make out all the lyrics, but I did catch that the first song (Jasmine Song, appropriately enough) was about jasmine; I thought the perfumed flower (was that one in her hair?), but no, it's about her cousin, who suffers from juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (thanks to a reaction after a rubella vaccination, at birth). It's personal and she shows us the love.

You (the song formerly known as On The Line) is a road song, in the sense of being written on a journey through India last year, where Rosie took time out to chill at a meditation bootcamp. The subcontinental flavours insinuate themselves here and there; both rhythmically and melodically. Beyond that, this is an adventurous contemporary jazz outing, through and through (in May, the band performed it at Takatsuki Jazz Street Festival, in Osaka), which isn't to say it couldn't, or hasn't, found an alternative folk-rock audience, for example. Think Jen Cloher, or Gen Maynard, even.

Anyway, who needs genre classifications? It is what it is. Definitely funky, with Banel's syncopated breaks surging to fill the spaces left by the tight interlock of bass and cajon. 'You are the creator of all things above; all things wonderful', effuses the lyric. If you're up there, big guy, this is for you. Despite its gazing upwards, the bassline prefers a paradoxical guttersnipe groove. There's some fluent scatting, too. - Australian Stage Online