"I’m in the woods. I’m at my mum’s. The reception can be a bit shit sometimes…" Rose Elinor Dougall is talking down the line from Ashdown Forest, or at least she is when Skype isn’t cutting out. It might be because of the boomy woods themselves, or it might be all the fags she smokes (I can hear her puffing away down the line) but Rose’s voice has a distinctive, sonorous timbre to it these days. What’s more, she’s only 30, but it seems like she’s been around forever.
Dougall joined Brighton’s arch 50s-inspired girl group The Pipettes when she was just 16, and left just before her 21st birthday. A solo record followed in 2010. It’s been a long interregnum between that and the follow-up, but Stellular has certainly been worth the wait. A forward-thinking and often thrilling ride of angular beats, imaginative production and sparkling songs make it one of 2017’s early essential purchases.
Dougall says the new record is "bolder, less apologetic, more decisive" than Without Why. Though it’s hard to disagree, what does she mean by "apologetic" in that context?
"My first record was such a huge breakaway from what I was doing with the Pipettes, for example, and I was finding my feet, which required a whole different approach to songwriting. It was more personal and I can hear in that record me kind of working it out as I go along. I’ve had quite a broad range of experiences since that album, and I feel a little more in charge of my faculties. There’s a level of accepting yourself and understanding your strengths as you get older."
Rose Elinor Dougall tours the UK next month, for a full list of dates go here. Click the photo below to begin going through the album selections
