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.
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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?’
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/143856009″]
You can buy the album via Bandcamp as a download or as a lovely limited-edition CD (designed by Sarah Hopfer).