Three-piece Rose Tiger is a fresh new band with a French-Anglo-Hispanic background, consisting of Cyprien Jacquet, Domi Hawken, and Irene Gonzalez. The three met in 2020 and started to write music together, with the idea of a concept album about a world where humans coexist with dinosaurs and robots. The End Forever is to be released today, 13 October 2023, through French indie record label Upton Park.
The End Forever is an album full of mixes of 70’s glam rock, 80’s synth-pop, and melodic pop. Starting with “The Shallows (opening)”, a short instrumental track to pull you into the dreamy world that the band has created with this album, followed by the energetic “Hypersonic” and the compelling “Scarlet Eye”. Then, we return to dreamy danceable synth-pop atmospheres with “Abby’s Song” featuring French singer-songwriter Halo Maud. After that, the album takes a bit of a twist with Domi Hawken who largely takes on the vocals unlike so far, where mainly Cyprien Jacquet sang. “Could Be a Fantasy” is also darker in sound and has a glam rock opera feel to it. I have to admit that when I listened to the album for the first time I found the transition in sound a bit strange, but found that after a few listens it actually fits well. It shows the diversity that Rose Tiger has to offer. The album then switches back to more pop-like music with the contagious “Automatic”, “The End Forever” and “Camelia”. At the end of the album comes the almost Broadway-like “Leaving This Town” to close with a grand gesture, after which the album ends where it began. The instrumental “The Shallow (ending) calmly takes us back to reality.
As I don’t have the lyrics to the songs, the story was not immediately clear to me. However, that does not detract from the quality of the tracks. The creativity of these musicians can be heard throughout the album. Some of the songs that really stand out for me are “Hypersonic”, “Could Be A Fantasy”, “Unusual Trouble” and “Meet Me At The Cemetery”. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know this album a bit more every time I listened to it. It changes from energetic pop songs to moody rock and everything in between, but still remains a coherent album. Even without context, you can feel that The End Forever tells a story. It is up to the listener to immerse themselves in the world of dinosaurs, robots, and people living together, or just to enjoy the music.
The End Forever tracklisting:
01. The Shallows (opening)
02. Hypersonic
03. Scarlet Eye
04. Abby’s Song (feat. Halo Maud)
05. Could be a Fantasy
06. Automatic
07. The End Forever
08. Camelia
09. When You’re Here
10. Unusual Trouble
11. I Won’t Go Back
12. Meet Me At The Cemetry
13. Leaving This Town
14. The Shallows (ending)
