For anyone who resonates with classic textures, rich arrangements, and laid-back groove, Bar Rose’s music will immediately hit home.
Her two most recent albums, Sultan’s Pool and Keep The Camera Rolling, reflect her approach to music. Both albums, sung in English, reveal differing but deeply engaging aspects of Rose’s art. Each piece showcases her careful attention to the voice of each instrument and how they work together to create meaningful sound.
The first of the two albums, Sultan’s Pool, is more intimate, featuring soft acoustic guitar and melodic vocals. The album gives the audience room to play a role in the music they hear, filling in the sound with their own interpretation.
“I feel like the acoustic guitar is really an amazing instrument in its ability to hold its song on its own,” said Rose in an interview with The Jerusalem Post on Monday. The point of the album, she continued, was to highlight the beauty in the instrument’s simplicity. Noting that “[the guitar] kind of leaves it up to you, where does your attention take you, where does your imagination take you?”
Rose emphasized that the musician responsible for the often emotional and poignant guitar is Sharon Sexton, a close creative partner of Rose. His influence on the album, she says, is immense. Whether it comes to lyrics or instrumentation, Sharon contributes deeply to whatever the song needs.
Rose’s second album, Keep The Camera Rolling, likewise brings instrumentation to the forefront, though through a distinctly different lens. While Sultan’s Pool consists of a more folky, ethereal sound, Keep The Camera Rolling embodies a vintage, bluesy style, reminiscent of 70s soft-rock.
The entire album was mixed using vintage equipment, intentionally trying to create a sort of dirtier sound. Rose says she’s “fallen in love with that vintage sound,” attracted to music across decades. The old-school influence is unmistakably apparent in the album, with songs made up of smooth guitar licks, suspended chords, and an analog warmth.
The title Keep The Camera Rolling comes from an interview Rose saw with Jack Nicholson, a retired American actor and filmmaker, in which he speaks to the potential a scene holds if a director would just “keep the camera rolling.” This phrase, she said, stuck out to her: “Keep the camera rolling is saying, let the story continue, imagine what else can happen if you just keep the camera rolling, making the story and your decision to stay in it the lead character.”
Rose’s musical journey
Looking back on her musical journey, Rose described how once she graduated high school, she realized that music was the one thing she was truly drawn to. “Once I realized that, it wasn’t a question of whether to pursue it but how,” she said.
She continued to explain how, for the first couple of years of her musical career, she immersed herself in learning, absorbing information about music theory, guitar intricacies, and making sense of what she liked. She noted that this process revealed how hard it is to actualize a creative and artistic vision. “I realized that what you have in your imagination is often not what ends up in reality,” she said.
Because of this, she focuses “less on the word good and more on the word original.”
“This is what really guides me, the want to be original, it makes the process curious and surprising and interesting,” she added.
Rose’s understanding of the complexity inherent in creating something uniquely her own is a defining characteristic in her music. Her sound is obviously well-thought-out and purposefully constructed. Reflecting on what shapes this mindset, she said, “When I go into the studio, I go in with the mindset of, this is going to take time, and it’s going to be hard.” She continued to note that “this is why it’s so important to me to be constantly engaging with art.”
As an avid movie watcher, she described how she finds the everlasting nature of art fascinating. “I think it’s insane that we can jump into the minds of people from the 50s, 60s, 70s. It’s as if art is spitting a language that time can’t break.”
As an artist eager to expand her audience, Rose emphasized that she hopes to reach more people in Israel. When contemplating what lies ahead, she said, “I see myself staying here. I’m in love with this place. It’s crazy, but it’s so true and so alive and so interesting.”
She says she’s still searching for an audience, but she’s sure she’ll find it here. “The music scene here is small,” she said, “but like everything in Israel, it’s warm and made up of good people.”
Her first full band show is on the 24th of December in the Mercaz Einav at 8:30 pm in Tel Aviv. She says that she’s excited to showcase her new songs, which explore a more lively, upbeat energy. When asked whether she was nervous about what lies ahead, she said, “As every creative process has shown me, it’s more about how it plays out rather than your plans.”