From Olympia/Portland, the group Oh, Rose shares with us an ode to the everlasting bond between a band that feels so much like the families each member of the group is starting through their marriages. The core concept of “For Art” is commitment: to friends, to lovers, to family, and to art itself. Through the laid-back, lo-fi dreamscape made through a brilliant fusion of slacker rock staple instruments—drums, bass, electric and acoustic guitars—with mystifying synths, Oh, Rose explores the variable nature of connection and the turbulent feelings it can evoke. To illustrate this concept, I have chosen to analyze the album’s title track, “For Art”, and its featured track, “Racetrack”.
The album’s first and title track, “For Art”, opens on ethereal choir-like synths and meandering bass (courtesy Stephen Smith and Kevin Christopher, respectively) before Olivia Rose Huebner’s haunting mezzo-soprano falls into the mix like dripping honey:
at first
it feels so foreign
to be in love
I guess it’s true,
i was thinkin’ about you (x2)
could’ve (been wasting/invested?) all my time
i was thinkin’ about you
Under any other title, the lyrics would strike one as stereotypical for a romantic ballad, but the title alone tickles the mind: “For Art”. Due to the band not including lyrics on their tracks, I could not determine whether the sixth line used the words “been wasting” or “invested”, but I almost wonder if this ambiguity is purposeful. In the informational blurb written for the album, Oh, Rose explicitly states that it explores the themes of “long-term commitment and partnership—both in romantic and platonic relationships, as well as to the artistic practice itself” (emphasis ours). I’m a married musician, and oftentimes I find the devotion I have for the craft of music mirrors my devotion to my husband just as much as it contrasts with that relationship; the specifics differ, yet just the same is the maintaining and evolution of those relationships into more lasting and time-tested bonds. The ambiguity in these lyrics leads the mind to naturally wander, and inclines the listener to reflect. I appreciate that quite a bit.
The second stanza falls in much like the first, coming after a triumphant swell of electric guitar and heightened drums:
at first I
feel so nervous
to be this vulnerable
it’s true, that I was thinkin’ about you
i was thinkin’ about you
Here, the implied dynamic more closely resembles romance, yet a case can still be made for the song’s dual dedication to both love and art. When creating any piece of art from the true depths of one’s soul, one must look within oneself and shed light on the parts others may never see, for as long as the artist knows them, not without looking deep into what the artist creates, anyway. If art is expression, the most meaningful expression would come from the deepest parts of oneself, whether that expression is of a desperate need or the praises of a source of exuberance and joy. Vulnerability in the artist can therefore be seen as necessary to foster compelling and meaningful art.
For the outro, a chorus joins Huebner’s wistful vocals to reprise the song’s chorus, signaling a camaraderie and closeness that compels all who feel it to join their friend in revelry. Further cementing these themes is the fact that the choir sings in unison with Huebner, naturally transposing pitch according to each singer’s range, to capture the collective glee one feels in capturing an impromptu moment of music with good friends. Here is where the album’s dedication to platonic relationships shines brightest, in the subtle details that bring one’s mind back to the good times they’d shared with not just lovers, but friends, new and old, spontaneous and time-tested.
The album’s feature track, “Racetrack”, features guest guitarist River Nason and synth producer Anna Jeter to invoke the joyful rush of a summer road trip through a peaceful major chord progression bordering on a mixolydian vibe. Flute-like sine synths hold sustained chords to contrast with the strum of the acoustic guitar as Huebner’s vocals kick in with a start.
took me to the racetrack
you were wondering if I might go back to
Western Carolina, see my daddy and my stepmom
I’m hopeful that they’ll move out west
get a house that can hold all of us,
but i am not holdin’ my breath
‘cuz sure as shit, all this will end
and be careful with your tone of voice
I swear, you’ll fit in all of this
and the question really took me back
to a time when life got so off-track
While it’s clear the lyrics refer to the artist looking back on the life they’ve led thus far, the ambiguity mentioned in “For Art” carries through to this track. This could be nothing more than a simple recounting of the artist’s singular struggles growing up in their circumstances with their passion to keep them afloat, or it could be the recollection of the struggles the artist had endured with a friend, or perhaps even more than that. In “Racetrack”, the album’s intent as a dedication to and depiction of the “complexities of closeness” shines brightest in its more detailed illustration of not only the positive associations of escape into a space of understanding and joy but the harsh realities simultaneously present in one’s life that make such an escape so alluring.
I wasn’t scared to give it up
to a guy who I had known two months
in the bedroom of my best friend’s house
but I cried so hard when we were done
and my boyfriend, back in high school
who would get so high it made me (???)
and we ran away to New Orleans
but I left before I turned nineteen
While I still feel the songs on this album would benefit both in terms of accessibility and deeper audience engagement with the message of Oh, Rose’s music, the lyrics I can pick out underline this song’s justification as an ode to connection through every bump in the road, no matter its size. Through this recollection of the history that led lyricist Olivia Rose Huebner as well as the rest of the band to this point in time, we see not only the praises sung of their bond but the storied past of the band itself; this group is not a gaggle of industry pedigrees formulating pop hits like math equations, this band is the beautiful passion project of lifelong friends held together by what they’ve endured and created together, as a found family.
Other tracks on “For Art” echo either similar statements to its title and featured track or present their synthesis. My favorite track, “Real Oceans”, actually positions us in a new perspective with the artists’ dedications to both their crafts and their bonds by lamenting the distance and subsequent feelings of powerlessness in the face of global crisis as one’s personal world flourishes. “Forecast” accepts the end to look towards a more hopeful future, sonically illustrated through the buildup of gentle acoustic guitar and thumping bass into a triumphant swell of crashing cymbals, forward-driving drumbeats, and bursts of electric guitar to supplement Huebner’s siren-like vocals. For listeners keen to both indulge the nostalgia of past summers spent with friends while keeping their eyes on the horizon to build an even better future for themselves, their loved ones, and their art? Oh, Rose’s “For Art” is unquestionably for you.
Written by Alexei Lee
