Unlearning Of Love is the latest single from Naarm/Melbourne-based singer-songwriter Rowena Wise. The song addresses the very nature of love, pulling apart everything learned about what love between two people means, examining it and then trying to piece it back together. There’s poetry in Wise’s words as she begins by looking at a relationship with a friend, “fellow driftwood”, that might be platonic: “Tell me, fellow driftwood // Sit beside me down on the sand // I’ll listen and give you comfort // I have no answers, but I’ll hold your hand // A cigarette to share // For burdens that we bear // Embrace me, don’t break away // What would a good friend do // What’s left unsaid when I’m close to you.” Can you take that hand and hold it without trying to own it? Musically, the song begins delicately and with restraint before swelling into multi-layered, textured intensity. Deep, tuneful bass and insistent percussion are added slowly, and it builds remarkably well towards a conclusion with fuzzy, overdriven guitars, while always retaining the focus on Wise’s strong, melodic vocal performance.
Wise has been immersed in music all of her life. Her father, a luthier, hand-crafted all her guitars, and her mother was a Chicago-born folk musician. When she was a child, Wise toured in The Wise Family Band, and these experiences gave her a deep love and respect for the craft of songwriting. Wise remembers, “…travelling Australia, Ireland and the USA as a kid as the Wise Family Band, performing trad folk songs, originals and the odd Beatles cover. Dad made all the instruments, and mum taught my sisters and I to play them. Every Australian summer we used to drive across the Nullarbor Plain to go perform at the music festivals in the east.” Raised in Margaret River, Western Australia, Wise moved to Melbourne at the age of 18 to pursue her own musical path.
Unlearning of Love is taken from Wise’s brand new, sophomore album, Bad Things Feel Good, which is out now. It’s a complex and lyrical collection of songs that explore the human condition, particularly heartbreak and the feelings associated with estrangement and loss. Check it out.
