Made with close collaborators Anna Arboles, Wolfy, and Jessica Reed, who form a muscular, guitar-driven quartet, Tucker’s songs call to mind a few contemporaries: Hop Along, Frankie Cosmos, Mitski. Like them, Tucker uses emotionally rich images of the world, and while the lyrics have political implications, politics are not the first concern of the songs. Marie, Sibylle Baier, Norma Tanega, Karen Dalton. Starting with the first track “Gay Bar” and then throughout their new album Never Not Never Not Never Not out Maon the New Professor label, Tucker’s songs talk with and echo the queer, blacklisted, and forgotten female songwriters of the 1960s: Dusty Springfield, Buffy St. Only as they progress do they reveal bigger themes.
They start in conversation with an immediate environment: small, detailed, characters and landscapes drawn vividly, with life and wit. Rosie Tucker’s songs are worlds unto themselves.
