PEI Singer-Songwriter Rose Cousins at It Again
After taking a break from touring for a few years, Rose Cousins is back with a new album
Perhaps the hardest thing about being an artist is knowing when it’s time to shake things up: you get so involved in your own art, be it music, painting, dance, etc.., that you run out of steam. Rose Cousins recognized that and decided at the close of 2013 to put an end to most of her touring.
Cousins is a long-time photographer, so she focused first on photography, using the dark rooms at the Nova Scotia School of Art and Design to develop film and print photos. Then, in the fall of 2014, she ventured down to Nashville to develop her skills in co-writing.
The experiment has been revitalizing for her, she says on her website. Writing for others, for television, film, even other singers, freed her own creativity. “To wake up, have a morning coffee, meet people, make something that didn’t exist and get to bed at a decent time. Read more books. Creating feels like a good use of my time and this is the first time I’ve ever allowed it to be my focus, counter-intuitive considering songs are what my career is built on,” she says.
In May 2015, she participated in a writing camp in Nashville. She was grouped together with writer and solo artist Andrew Combs and producer and writer Jeff Bowman. She says, “We were given a brief which said ‘Genre: bluesy rock, roots rock, Americana. Production: slow to mid-tempo, dark, something hard hitting with attitude. Theme: everything has gone to shit.’” This song, “Chains,” was the outcome of that session. It not only has a spot on her upcoming album, but it was also played on the TV show Lucifer:

Natural Conclusion is an album Cousins calls “the most honest and vulnerable thing” she has made to date.
“Ultimately, a life consists of many relationships, some chosen and some assigned, each playing different roles on a subjective, expansive spectrum of success and failure. We choose, we are chosen, we are left, we leave, we stay anyway, we grieve, judge and empathize, relinquish, atone alone, keep and let go. Each relationship will come to its Natural Conclusion.”
Rose Cousins sings as part of our OnStage series on Wednesday,February 15. Her next album, Natural Conclusion, will also be released that month. Be among the first to hear her new album live. Get your tickets now.