Of all the American goth bands to have emerged recently, Rosegarden Funeral Party have a very special charm. That's down to the bittersweet tinge of its songs, the deep voice of singer and songwriter Leah Lane, which is a perfect match for its goth-rock instrumentals, and its sense of melody. Active since 2017, the Texas-based trio released their fourth album this year, From the Ashes, which focuses on the need to know how to let go when you lose your relationship with someone.
And it's the idea of rebirth in departure that the album expresses first and foremost, as you can see from the first track Doorway Ghost, with its startling introduction, as symbolised by the image of Leah Lane on her motorbike on the album cover and in the video for the song. It also becomes clear very quickly that this is a hit: once again, Leah Lane's melancholy vocals shine through on the chorus, accompanied by a beautiful crescendo from the guitar and drums; the trumpet of Miles Belvin, who joins the trio on this occasion, adds to the bittersweet atmosphere. Rosegarden Funeral Party provides us with several of these energetic songs, as does the following track Wait Until Morning or, further on, Embers and Almost Heaven; we really appreciate Dean Adams' drumming, an instrument not usually heard so much in the gothic scene, which carries us along with the emotional swings of the vocals.
If you have to leave, however, it's because you're haunted, and this haunting is reflected in the album's quieter tracks: the ballads First to Cry, Pillar of Salt and the much more ethereal Love Like Goodbye, which conclude the first half of the album, remain frozen in a sense of loss and disappointment. We prefer Love Like Goodbye, which for once is a track dominated by the synthesiser. The album, however, darkens even more in its last third : A Different Kind of Carnage is simply magnificent, with its saxophone (Alyssa Gallagher from Trigger Discipline) in the background, while Leah Lane's vocals sadly condemn an unhealthy relationship ; Like the Rain is even more beautiful, haunted by the sound of the bell and a cold synth pad, Leah Lane's vocals infinitely sad. If Doorway Ghost is undoubtedly the album's hit, it's on A Different Kind of Carnage and Like the Rain that we reach the pinnacle of dark beauty, these two ballads being even more striking than the band's past masterpieces such as Fade to Black. But the album doesn't end there, and thankfully it doesn't: the eponymous track From the Ashes gets the album off to a roaring start, with the guitar and drums accelerating into a frenzy, the vocals coming back into their own and never stopping now that we've risen from the ashes, having accepted what we can't change and left the ghosts at the door.
From the Ashes is a beautiful album, where the form powerfully translates the content as always with Rosegarden Funeral Party. We're taken through a range of emotions, caught between hope, bitterness, sadness and joyous release. An album that can do you good!
