EP Review: Eliza Rose - PLEASUREDOME:ARCADIA

Eliza Rose trades her party-starter reputation for hard-won vulnerability, with Sega Bodega pushing breakbeat into new emotional territory.

'ARCADIA:PLEASUREDOME' is the first step in a new direction for Eliza Rose, stalwart of the underground UK club scene. As much is clear from the EP’s atmospheric opener, 'Sour Grapes', the beat would fall in time with stilettos clacking on a wet inner-city street. The direction headed towards is impressionistic: the song prettily pained, as if our metaphorical pedestrian (in six-inchers) deliberately avoided public transport to process other urban thoughts on life, love, making things work. Synths swell and fade like the doppler-effect of passing cars; vocoded las and ohs sound like crying, summoning memories of a lonely bathroom floor. "I left my heart in the gutter", Rose sings, trailing off to the chorus. Reminiscent of Burial’s sampling, this compositional openness implies solemnity, the comeback following significant changes in Rose’s career: new management, new label. 'Sour Grapes' suggests the accomplishment wasn’t all party, rather hard won.

But this sobriety is followed by 'Undercover Lover', the EP’s lead single, introduced by an arpeggiated chord so cheery, it reads ironic. The placement is effective - 'ARCADIA:PLEASUREDOME' is anything but a self-pitying romp in the rain. Largely bubblegum with shades of hyperpop, 'Undercover Lover' disorients, showcasing its inauthenticity with a kiss and a wink. "Sweeter than candyfloss, just wanna eat ya, let you taste my lipgloss". There’s no subtlety in mix nor words: thickly arranged synths produce the base-level maximalism you’d expect from an 8-bit soundtrack. Unceasing, but the song still undulates through the many vocal styles and effects Rose performs. Brain-scratchy and hyperactive: whilst 'Undercover Lover' might prove intense for casual listening, it’s nothing alcopops and dancing won’t fix.

The next two tracks stay within the territory of ‘sick unrelenting beats’, but show diversity in Sega Bodega’s production (Shygirl, Rosalia, Björk!, FKA Twigs). The pulse remains consistent, swinging between the hyper- and hypo-tension already established: what follows is an exploration of the breakbeat’s emotional range. Kite, for instance, pairs Rose’s junglist vocals with off-kilter percussion, working samples into drum-loops – a drop of water, digitised marimba. "We like a likkle fun, we ain’t straight laced" is not just an invocation to play, but a taunt.

On 'Dove', we return to spacier interwoven arrangements, though less dejected than 'Sour Grapes': Rose singing, over syncopated beats, of wanting something so badly it hurts.

A new direction indeed, but ‘mature’ is a better description of Eliza Rose’s new record. References to the jungle/DnB of 90s London go beyond nostalgia – those carefree days gave way to modern insecurities, an aesthetic of vulnerability. My favourite track, 'Final Ride', captures this: unsettled compositional elements – fast beat, anxious arpeggiations – fade over the final line of a spoken-word poem: "Do you think we can ever outrun the past?" The keys intensify briefly, silence. Then, an uplifted voice: "I dunno, but we can try!"

3.8/5

'ARCADIA:PLEASUREDOME' is out now via Rosebud Recordings.

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