The Roseline Balance the Joy and Pain of Aging with New Single ‘Catalpa’

Lawrence, Kansas-based folk-rockers The Roseline released “Catalpa” on October 22^nd. It’s the latest single from their upcoming full-length record Constancy, out this Friday.

In their latest single, The Roseline blend folk sensibilities with some rather un-folk sounds. The combination creates a mellow atmosphere over which they lay the lyrics. The slow tempo, spacey synths, and brushed drums make this the kind of song that you can kick back and relax to. The guitar work and vocals bring to mind solid folk-rock acts of the past. Overall, It’s a nice-sounding song. However, the track contains plenty of relatable pain for those of us of a certain age.

Lyrically, The Roseline spin a yarn about growing up and getting old in a college town. Being from Lawrence, Kansas, home of the Jayhawks, it’s something they know about. “Catalpa” doesn’t have a chorus. However, the two verses are clearly defined by the emotion behind them.

In the opening verse, The Roseline talks about laughing at the kids being loud, irreverent, and irresponsible. I think if you’re over 30, you’ve been there. These damn kids and their weird pants and noise music are as funny to us as we were to the generation before us. Furthermore, life was so much more complicated back then. They nail this down near the end of the verse. “Couldn’t pay me to go back/ To black-out curtains and curses of panic attacks.”

The second verse, though, focuses on missing the good old days. Sure, kids these days are laughable, but our generation really got it. We were cool. I don’t care how old you are, you’ve probably been there. That’s probably why we make fun of the youth because they make us remember just how old we are. Again, they take a few lines to really encapsulate that emotion. “Now I’m old and boring / Swollen and beholden to statuses / Of friends I hold dear.”

The Verdict on The Roseline’s New Single:

It’s a solid release that personally has me ready to check out Constancy this Friday. I love a well-written folk song and if you pulled out the synths and played it acoustic, “Catalpa” would be just that. The addition of the more modern production elevates rather than detracting from it, though.

If you dig this track, don’t expect an entire album of songs like it this Friday. In an interview with Buzz Music, The Roseline said “Catalpa” was an outlier on the album. They said it’s “…kind of a breather moment in the sequencing of the album tracks. It explores similar existential quandaries seen elsewhere on Constancy but also has a little humor thrown in too.”

If you enjoyed “Catalpa” you should check out the other single from Constancy, “Seven Hundred Second Chances” it’s another well-written folk song with the addition of some sounds that don’t line up with traditional folk music. I sense a theme between the two, and I hope this sound extends into the remainder of Constancy. The Roseline is a band to keep your eyes on.