Pixelated Images is the debut EP from London-based singer/songwriter Rosie Alena. It makes for a strong first impression with impeccable production that compliments Rosie's confident, evocative and eternal singing style. She cites influences like Joni Mitchell and Tori Amos, and it's not a stretch to hear these inspirations in her performance. The prickly and groovy "The Light" has a kind of freshly-faced, rutty-ragamuffin vibe as if it had been blessed with a kiss from Don Juan's Reckless Daughter, while "God's Garden" has a dusty kind of sarcasm to its clattering gallop that is theatrical and timeless, as well as drenched in a perspiration of passion like the nervous speed up outpour of a "Cornflake Girl." The melodies have a folksy, homespun quality to them with parallels to the candid enunciations of artists like Big Theif and Lucy Dacus, but with more of a bold emphasis on harmony than the former, and a penchant for subtly that skirts around the scornful rock'n rumble of the latter. Songs like "Dream Song" have all the color and temperate contemplation of a fall stroll through a park trail piled high with the discarded leaves of surrounding trees, with a head swimming full of anticipation for the Holidays and the promises of the coming year, while "Who Do I Call" returns to the well with a poetic, harp accompanied turn that recalls Mitchell at her most transcendental. Pixelated Images is comprised of many tiny pieces, but together they form a miraculous picture of an incredibly talented, emerging artist.
