Frankie Rose Turns Grief Into a Dark, Wide-Screen Cosmos on “Cant Be Wrong”

Frankie Rose has spent fifteen years building one of the most quietly distinctive bodies of work in American independent music, and Hila is the record that opens the widest. Self-produced at her home studio after extensive touring with The Jesus and Mary Chain and Swervedriver, it was made in the aftermath of loss, and the whole record carries that weight without being crushed by it. Where 2023’s Love As Projection looked outward, Hila pulls the dark cosmos inward. The doors of perception are constantly melting here.

“Cant Be Wrong” is the lead single and serves as a transition point: a thumping 80s funk rhythm track under a soaring vocal performance, bridging the optimistic pop of the previous album toward something more gothic and searching. The record expands from there into glacial widescreen territory, drawing from later Coil, Skinny Puppy’s EBM production, Cocteau Twins, Blue Nile’s Hats, and Bowie’s Low. Drummer Justin Welch of Elastica and Lush plays throughout. It is, as Rose puts it, musick to play in the dark.

Hila arrives September 18 on Born Losers / Night School Records. Pre-order below.

Pre-order Hila ↗

1“Olo”

2“Cant Be Wrong”

3“Return to Dust”

4“Shadow Twin”

5“Rainman”

6“Hila”

7“Manifest”

8“Best of Times”

9“TV Star”

10“Velvet Refrain”