Esbie Fonte - 'Rosie'

Esbie Fonte unveils another cut of oddball pop in the form of hypnotic new single, ‘Rosie’.

Esbie Fonte is subverting the conventional norms of songwriting to create authentic soundscapes that have echoes of familiarity about them, but that familiarity exists in the background of her songs. Instead, her listener is opened up to an imaginative and peculiar world of (often) dark, hypnotic allure. Esbie’s surreal exploration of sound allows her to create multi-textured songs that firmly leave an impression.

Arguably ‘Rosie’ is Esbie’s most freakish release to date, revealing itself through an eerie reimagined nursery rhyme theme, weaving ghostly textures and tension through exuberant synth. There’s a seriousness to the lyrical theme that reveals itself in a riddle, the complexity of the lyrics leaving her listener piecing the narrative together for themselves, getting sucked into her broken streams of consciousness like awakening from a bizarre dream you only half remember. But there is still a realism there that makes the pain and violation depicted real and relatable which is both compelling and haunting.

‘Rosie’ is somewhat of an uneasy listen, it’s also completely enthralling and that’s the true power of Esbie Fonte. Her music isn’t always comfortable but it’s entrancing and addictive. A lot of the appeal is to do with the way Esbie’s vocal always cuts through the eclectic production, finding connectivity with her listener and guiding them through the dream-like atmospheres she creates. While this is the darkest most eerie Esbie cut we have heard so far, Esbie also allows her listener into many different personalities through her vocal delivery on the track; from eerie, to deadpan to ironically playful to dangerously seductive and wacky.

It can be rare to see an artist reveal more and more layers with each new release, but that’s what Esbie Fonte is doing, in a way quite unlike any others.

Words of Karla Harris