Rose Betts’ most recent album There Is No Ship perfectly blends fantasy and reality, especially seen in track one, “Six”. The album is inspired by a line in J. R. R. Tolkien’s classic series The Lord of the Rings, in which a character states “There is no ship that can hear me hence” in reference to her choice to give up her immortality to live a human life with the man that she loves. Betts ties this theme throughout her album and “Six” with the idea that “...there are some things about yourself that you can never change. Where you grew up, the bones of the city that formed you, your country, and your heritage.” This track is a song about familial patterns and interactions, and takes inspiration from Betts’ Celtic heritage for instrumentals and overall sound.
Betts’ voice is rich and almost siren-like, heightened by her maritime references and plotline. The track opens with setting the scene of a violent shipwreck, singing, “Six dead pieces on the seashore / That the waves brought in to clean”. She sings over a plucking violin line that feels innately Irish and guides the story along. In the chorus, Betts sings the lines “Blood and tears / I'm getting tired of / Facing the earth” repeated twice, with a beautiful harmonic riff on the second ‘I’m’. Her voice is smooth and flows beautifully with the patterns she has created. This track closes out with the same chorus and refrain lyrical and sound pattern that it opens with, giving the illusion of a true storyline.
Rose Betts is a London born and LA based singer-songwriter coming off of the release of her sophomore album, There Is No Ship. She labels herself as an “Irish folk-teller”, stating that her music "’sounds like’ what The Lord of The Rings ‘looks like’”. Nostalgic and fantastical is her brand, and she executes this vision perfectly. With over 500,000 monthly Spotify listeners and almost 20 million streams on her 2023 single “Irish Eyes”, Grammy nominated Betts self released her first EP, The Stars Look Down, in 2021 and her career has only been on the ups since. Make sure to follow the social medias below to stay tuned for more music from Rose Betts.
Written By Tessa Maddaloni
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