We thought it made sense to cover the person responsible for shaping a lot of our Top 10s from years back…
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Alfred Soto: This Taylor Swift collaborator writes her own “Solsbury Hill”: a declaration of independence disguised as an urge for going. There is no sense from Liz Rose’s plaintive, blank voice that either intention troubles her.
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Alex Clifton: Surprising no one, this sounds like an old-school Taylor Swift cut, with the same acuteness and lyrical detail. It’s charming and sounds like country radio from when I was a kid, fifteen to twenty years ago, and recalls halcyon days of summer. What’s better is that while this song is nostalgic, it’s not performatively so. It lets the memory linger with its own romance, but the romance isn’t overblown. This isn’t a one-horse town with faults that’s still better than anywhere else because it’s hers; it’s not the be-all-end-all best summer of her life. It’s not screaming its own importance, while other singers might have taken this sort of imagery and used it to scream the importance of their hometown for show. What it ends up being is deeply personal — the same sort of thing found in Rose’s co-written Swift songs. An unexpected treasure.
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Anthony Easton: Not the best folk song about swimming (that would be Loudon Wainwright) or the best indie song about swimming as a metaphor for independence (REM’s “Nightswimming”) but it contains a solid metaphor and holds it through the entire three minutes. Extra point for her open and joyful tone.
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Dorian Sinclair: This is one of those songs that reminds me of a great many others. Some are expected — it has the lyrical specificity of the excellent “All Too Well,” which Rose also helped write — while others, I suspect, are a bit more idiosyncratic (I’m probably the only one thinking about “Love Song” from Stephen Schwartz’s Pippin). On its own merits, I like “Swimming Alone” alright, but if I walk away from four or five listens humming something else, your song probably isn’t that memorable.
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Juana Giaimo: “Swimming Alone” has the warm quietness of Kacey Musgraves, but Liz Rose lacks her charm — or something that could identify her to make this single more memorable.
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Joshua Minsoo Kim: As is expected from Liz Rose, “Swimming Alone” manages to take a small moment from one’s past and helps you understand why it’s so memorable. There’s nothing quite as picturesque as “we dance around the kitchen in the refrigerator light” but there are enough details here that help set the scene. I just wish Rose didn’t feel the need to explain herself (“sometimes you get burned but that’s how you learn”).
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Stephen Eisermann: One of the better country songwriters of our time, Liz Rose finally released her own album in May, and this terrific song is the first single. “Swimming Alone” sees Liz recalling her experiences growing up and how she, effectively, raised herself in her quest for independence. While this theme is far from uncommon and is often displayed in the schmaltziest ways, Liz has always had such a strong command of details (“dime store daddy and paper-back mother,” and “I was a California dreamer in a hot Texas town” are favorites of mine) that the song never really feels cliché. Furthermore, the breeziness of the track gives a warmth to the lyrics that makes it feel like your own story, when it’s very clearly hers. Most important about this track, though, is that it is truly what country music embodies… or at least what it used to. Let’s get more Liz Rose on the radio, whether it’s her singing or not. Carrie? Maren? Cam? Mickey? Y’all listening?
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