An alluring new single from Michaela Betts delivers a theatrically driven and lush soundscape that comes with an orchestrated tonality and a haunt that coats the surface and tells a story.
"The Rose (Darker)" gives off such a deepening sense of character and as it does so it musically and vocally builds in intensity doing so with instrumentation that comes through alive and breathing giving the song an atmosphere that wraps itself around you and keeps you right where it wants to.
This was powerful in the sense that the music and lyrics both enabled you to picture images in your head vividly and the song was like reading a chapter in a really good book because you were actually able to escape into this song and away from your reality for a moment in time.
This escapism is the kind of thing that we look for in certain kinds of music and with this track, it's portrayed with such description and combination of textures that mend together that you just get washed away with everything.
There's such a sense of eloquence and class to this song to the point where it feels like you are watching a scene from a theatrical play and you want to know how the story unfolds,
As this is happening, you're getting a strong sense of the emotional platform from which the song was actually built in the first place and whether it's fictional or not, it presents itself with such a vast approach in sound that you can't help but start floating into it and through it.
At times the song made me think of one of my favorite artists Tori Amos and perhaps that's an influence here but either way, this track has a very in-depth and impactful mark that it leaves.
The lyrics of the song are like poetry and the feeling it gives you has tones of gothic edge lurking just beneath the surface.
This is the type of song that you need to listen to more than once to really soak it in properly because there's a lot going on even though it's so straightforward.
Everything about this is somewhat graceful and beautifully given which is something that makes the song incredibly authentic and genuine in its own right.
This certainly was intense and there's so much to swim through, especially the first listen of this track so I definitely suggest listening to it a second or even third time to not only help depict story and meaning but to really be able to have a full understanding of the song musically as well.
A beautiful song that will certainly leave you a little bit haunted, check this out when you get a chance it's more than worth your time.