Haroula Rose

Haroula Rose sings like she’s telling a secret, a style perhaps owing to the self-taught musician’s many years of shyly composing and playing her haunting melodies alone in her native Chicago.
 With Catch the Light, her third album and first to co-produce, Rose has deepened and complicated her dreamy, tender repertoire. These are songs full of loving and longing, evocative confessions that document the shadow of sorrow that roots beneath every joy. The title song, written in an inspired twenty-minute rush, is a study in “how we’re all enraptured by darkness and light,” and how contrasts give our lives meaning. “I can’t help the Melancholia,” Rose explained, “that’s the Greek DNA, but no one can feel joy unless they feel sadness, too.” The title is also a cinematographic reference to Rose’s work as a filmmaker—since her last album she’s released her debut feature as a writer and director, the highly acclaimed, Once Upon a River. 
 Rose’s fans will likely recognize the imprint of June Tabor, Joni Mitchell, Judee Sill, and Bonnie “Prince” Billy, but the lesser-known but hugely influential Víctor Jara, the Chilean artist and activist who was assassinated in 1973, was an important guide in this highly internal, novelistic album. The other cover on the album, Chris Stapleton’s country rock hit “You Should Probably Leave” is sung as a piano ballad showcasing what Rose does best—finding new layers of poignancy in familiar places. 
 — Catherine Lacey