In the midst of a chaotic year, sometimes a quiet album feels rejuvenating. Rose Riebl is back with another record, the first in four years, called Dust. While similar in some ways to 2021’s Do Not Move Stones, this one has grabbed hold of me a little more. Dust releases on November 14th.
Rose is a composer and pianist from Australia. She scores TV shows and films but has more to share with us in the form of solo albums. You will hear her on piano and vocals (something we haven’t heard from her), but you will also hear horns and cello, guitars and drums, and other instruments that see Rose blending other genres with her neoclassical style.
The music here is soft, quiet, even tranquil. Hushed harmonies drift over the entire album, occasionally rising to the top in the form of humming or words. There is a sense of misty transience here, like a celebration of the sacred art of living, of experiencing love and loss, change and stillness. Rose’s piano is serene and delicate, but powerful when it needs to be, and the softly cinematic and even ambient atmosphere makes you want to close your eyes and float away into the shadows.
There is something holy about this album, something innately human and emotional about every single note. The soft accents of horns or strings offer other textures, but the gentle stream of feeling that comes from Rose herself is what makes this album so arresting. So, it isn’t technical and its energy is quite low, but that’s exactly what makes it special. It’s evocative, abstract, spacious.
The album has ten tracks and they all add to the ambience. For my money, I think the second half of the record is better, but only by a little. I love the opener “What We Talk About” with its steady rhythm and hushed voices at the end, and “Skies Have Fallen” for its quiet verisimilitude. I really like “Echo and the Sea” with its serene strings adding a sense of eerie space, and “A Remembering” with its mournful horns. “Into the Blue” is probably my favorite in this half for how it feels like sunshine and natural beauty, and the strings are particularly potent.
The second half is powerful, though. Starting with my favorite track, “Falling”, the album flows like a river. “Falling” is gorgeously sung, softly, almost in whispers; I love the gentle eccentricity and the surprisingly catchy hook. It’s so beautiful. “Night Descends” gives us darkness and shadow, elegant in its own way as it leads into “Unbound”, a song with drums and a beat, but the piano never loses focus.
The last couple tracks are truly beautiful. “Life Has Not Forgotten You” is mostly ambient at first, but the commanding, purposeful piano that rises near the end feels like hope, seems like a promise. And the closer “Nirvana Moon” is sheer peace. I love the airy atmosphere, the formless whispers that evoke emotion and eternity. It is like finding your perfect place to exist forever.
Rose’s debut is still a favorite of mine and I admire the neoclassical nature and brilliant song structures. Dust is different, connecting with us on a heart level, offering warmth even in the darkest places. It’s an authentic experience, one born from Rose’s visit to Iceland among other things, but it feels familiar, like home and belonging. If you need that sort of thing, I hope you’ll give this a try. Close your eyes and just exist.
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The PROG Mind 