Music – Rebecca-Rowan

The albums of Rebecca Rowan

KENSINGTON PRAIRIE

Rebecca Rowan and Kensington Prairie have been featured on a number of Rarebird Records

Captured In Still Life is the quietly stunning debut album by Kensington Prairie.

Built around the effortlessly melodic songs and voice of Rebecca Rowan (singer/songwriter

of Vancouver’s indie pop darlings, Maplewood Lane), it is a collection of songs to soften

even the thickest of skins. With songs accumulating that weren’t fitting in to her band’s

more electric pop-rock direction, she headed into the studio to give them a life of their

own in the form of this beautifully written gentle pop album.

Beauty, joy and sorrow weave through the album, beginning with the grand harmonies of

the opening track, Time on Our Side. The sound is warm and enveloping, at once familiar

and yet still a further evolution in songcraft and production. This time the songs feature a

more orchestral tapestry of instruments and sounds: strings swell and vibes quiver, man-

dolins and acoustic guitars mix with vintage rhodes and mellotron and cast a sepia tinged

hue across songs like A Million Skies, Letters That I Send and Disappear from View. Front

and center is the wonderfully tender voice of Rebecca and the inward looking themes that

explore the days past, the winding road, the places where we find ourselves now and quiet

moments of loneliness. There is an attention to the details and the recording is filled with

many subtle sonic flourishes: bells twinkle across the speakers, dusty banjos and abandoned

pianos intertwine while tiny percussion sways and organs gurgle deep below. As the last

track (Disappear From View) fades into the distance, it is the songs that will stick with

you – their emotion and melodic pull lingering on.