The album heralds a sound that has evolved from the traditional acoustic folk of her debut These Open Roads into more developed, full arrangements. Here The Blue is reminiscent of Daniel Lanois' production if he could have worked with Judee Sill or Townes Van Zandt - a couple of Rose's main inspirations for the album. The album title is a phrase from in an Emerson poem entitled "The River" that encapsulates the theme: nothing lasts forever. "This is definitely a relationship record," states Haroula. "It's about how our relationships are also about how we relate to ourselves, to nature, how we are alienated from it, how we seek to understand these mysteries that surround us....how as human beings we create and we destroy things."
The opening track "Songbird" harkens back to Fleetwood Mac's early days, the chorus echoing the refrain "who was gonna take care of you/who was going to care for you?" and its reprise in a haunting improvised final track are bookends, questioning how if we don't take care of ourselves, our world, then who is? "I'm interested in the spaces between things just as much as the things themselves, so these interludes give some space to just be and to think, rather than be told a story outright all the time."
Here The Blue River also involves Rose's collaboration with Bonnie Jo Campbell, the best selling novelist. While Rose immersed herself in the world of her book Once Upon A River, for which she has written the screenplay and will direct the feature film, the song "Margo" was born, as well as the vibe of some other tunes like "The River and Walk Away." "The album is like a patchwork that involved
many collaborators in several locations, and then all of a sudden it started to gel. It marries my film and music passions, so this record really is a true reflection of what I'm about. It's not a fountain but more like a steady stream from several sources of inspiration."
Haroula Rose (full name: Haroula Rose Spyropoulos) has released four critically acclaimed records, and many more films and videos. She has toured internationally and her work has been screened at over thirty festivals around the world. Rose went to the University of Chicago for her BA and MA, and attended USC's School of Cinematic Arts for her MFA. She was part of the prestigious Warner Brothers Director's Workshop, Tribeca's All Access Program, and created new content for Time Warner. Rose was also a Fulbright Scholar in Madrid, where she was a writer and educator, and has guest lectured at Cal Poly Pomona, Northwestern, University of Chicago, and Sundance's Film Forward program.
Rose has released two EP's, an LP, several singles, and has been remixed by Kyp Malone of TV ON THE RADIO, The Hood Internet and Fool's Gold. She has garnered much critical acclaim from the likes of Marie Claire, KCRW, Nylon, LA Times, Vice, LA Weekly, NPR, Flavorpill, American Songwriter, The Bluegrass Situation and more. She has had placements in TV series, commercials, and films such as Still Alice, For A Good Time, Call..., How I Met Your Mother, American Horror Story, andUnderemployed, among many others. Rose has been a guest DJ on KXLU and music supervised or consulted for films such as Fruitvale Station, for which she was also an Associate Producer. Her music has been compared with the likes of Allison Krauss, Mindy Smith, Emmylou Harris, Suzanne Vega, Dolly Parton, and Jessica Lea Mayfield.
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