Rosie Thomas - These Friends of Mine

The first thing I thought about upon hearing Rosie Thomas' latest record, These Friends of Mine was springtime in New York: that quiet place between the biting, whirring hibernation of winter and the happy, loud, flaunting summertime; when it's still okay to be introspective and yet the songs are slowly turning playful. It is all of these elements that make Thomas such a great songwriter, and this record is no exception.

If You Don't Know Rosie Thomas Yet ...

Think of Shawn Colvin and Deb Talan—women with sweet, honest voices plagued by an undercurrent of sadness. Although These Friends of Mine is a decidedly more optimistic record, there are certainly elements of catharsis, at the very least.

What Thomas has always done best is collaborate, and this time around, her collaborations brought her into contact with longtime collaborater Denison Witmer and celebrated contemporary Sufjan Stevens, whose voice and musicianship lends a certain softness to the record.

About the Songs

At some points, it's difficult to discern whether the Friends Thomas is referring to are actual people or whether they are, in fact, the songs that she sings. On the title track she croons, "Maybe I need this time to be reminded for myself how I love to sing," indicating the songs come in at the right time, like long lost friends, to relieve her of some experience or circumstance.

On other songs, she appears to be singing to actual friends, like on the pretty and simple, "Much Farther to Go," wherein she sings, "I took the train all the way to Brooklyn Heights, I remember when you took it there with me ... I have so much farther to go."

Here, like on many of the tunes, friends are a bittersweet attachment—both uplifting and necessary reminders of one's own past. As she sings at the end of the same tune, "I lost my way when I lost you."

The Bottom Line

Possibly the most endearing thing on the record is the between-song banter among the musicians. What can be annoying and unimportant—left in for the artist's amusement—on other records, seems to make sense here. Thomas shows herself to be an artist with no intention other than simply to sing songs and share them with her friends and whoever else chooses to listen.

Highlights

If This City Never Sleeps

Much Farther To Go

Songbird

All the Way to New York City