Rough River is Kate Skinner, a solo artist from Melbourne, Australia. April saw the release of her self-titled debut album, an alluring blend of traditional and contemporary styles of folk. Skinner mixes acoustic guitars and mournful violin with the bass/drums of a band, leading to a progressive brand of country music that owes as much to Angel Olsen or Sharon van Etten as it does Emmylou Harris.
Lyrically, Rough River is again close to the classics, using landscapes and natural imagery to paint tales of love, life, loss and grief. The current favourite line I have stumbled across so far is from ‘Sometimes’, which reads:
’And sometimes I can’t care to find
what it is that makes me feel good about this life.
And I’ll float back to you
on a raft, steady and true,
and you say,
maybe it’s meant to be that way?’
You can buy the album via Bandcamp as a download or as a lovely limited-edition CD (designed by Sarah Hopfer).