New Orleans-based alternative band Tasche and the Psychedelic Roses recently released their self-titled album via Sinking City Records, a feminist album that invests women and opens a window to the opposite side of a man’s world. It tells the tale of a woman becoming her own person despite everything that slays her day after day.
De La Rocha started out busking in New Orleans, where she became known for her inimitable voice and guitar work. In 2016, she collaborated with Joseph Faison on her solo debut album, Gold Rose, which eventually led to the expanded line-up of the Psychedelic Roses.
The band’s sound revolves around four-part vocal harmonies, grunge guitars, vestiges of punk, doo-wop, surf, cabaret, and psychedelia while toeing the line betwixt melodious purity and sonic demolition.
Encompassing 10-tracks, the album begins with “Hook,” an edgy tune rife with jolting guitar tones, doo-wop harmonies, and De La Rocha’s Betty Boop-like vocals.
Entry points include “Happy Song,” which rolls out on a rumbling bassline topped by De La Rocha’s unique voice and frizzing guitars. Hints of punk-lite and pop give the tune surging energy. “Blue Window” changes things up, opening on a gleaming guitar and De la Rocha’s nursery rhyme-like timbres. At once heavy and tender, the song’s smooth, undulating flow captivates.
“Pretty Things” travels on raw, dirty guitars, a tight teetering rhythm, and displays the deluxe range of De la Rocha’s matchless voice. Drenched in a Cappella intro, “Cult” delivers luscious ‘30s-flavored harmonies.
The surf-rock-laced “Dying Art” is followed by the dark, polished elegance of “Leave My Bones Out,” a personal favorite because of its blend of wicked Siren-like vocals with a sweetly ominous melodic flow.
The final track, “Greener,” pushes out gentle, almost smarmy layers of Shirley Temple-like tones, and then takes on shadowy colors and resonance. Oozing harmonies add radiant dimension as De La Rocha’s one-off voice imbues the lyrics with prickly nuances.
Simultaneously innovative and terrifically retro, Tasche De La Rocha and the Psychedelic Roses is a grand, swanky album highlighted by superb vocals.
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