Collection review
Frankie Rose Hila
- Released
- 2026
- Label
- Born Losers Records / Night School Records
Frankie Rose | Hila [Born Losers Records / Night School Records]
Synth-Pop / Darkwave / Dream Pop | 2026
Frankie Rose's Hila is an album about grief with an unusually active rhythmic character. Bass sequences repeat insistently, electronic percussion stays sharply defined and her voice moves through sustained melodies that rarely settle into easy reassurance. Rose produced the ten songs herself, with contributions from drummer Justin Welch and a small group of instrumentalists. The record is dedicated to her brother Michael. Its emotional force comes through in the arrangements as much as in the subject matter.
The opening "Olo" establishes an expansive electronic sound with long synthesizer tones, an insistent pulse and vocals that rise into a higher register. It takes its time establishing a melody. "Cant Be Wrong" immediately gives the album a firmer pop structure. A buoyant bass part and clipped rhythm support a chorus that opens up through layered singing and bright guitar accents. The melody is inviting, yet Rose's controlled vocal delivery carries a persistent sadness. Its treatment of love after a death gives the song a particularly difficult emotional tension.
"Return To Dust" presses harder on the rhythm section. A repeating bass figure drives the song while reverberant guitars and dense synth parts occupy the upper frequencies. The arrangement keeps moving even when the vocal sounds uncertain. Rose has described the song in terms of dreams in which she searches for people she has lost. That idea gives the tension between its persistent beat and unresolved vocal phrasing particular purpose. "Shadow Twin" follows with a lighter melodic lift, retaining the album's reserved vocal tone while bringing the guitars forward.
The middle section asks for closer attention. On "Rainman" the percussion recedes and the synthesizers sustain their notes for longer stretches. Saxophone phrases add variation to the track's measured pace. The title song "Hila" continues the slower approach through a prominent synthesized string timbre, carefully spaced electronic parts and extended vocal lines. Both songs benefit from Rose's patience with timbre and dynamics. Together, however, they allow the album's momentum to ease for an extended period, and a few melodic ideas lose definition in the dense mix.
"Manifest" sharply changes that balance. A forceful four-on-the-floor beat and heavy electronic low end give the song its physical impact. Rose layers her voice against the rigid percussion, creating tension through rhythm and repetition rather than constant shifts in harmony. It is one of the album's strongest arrangements because every part has a clear function. The track also gives the record a much-needed rhythmic jolt after its subdued center.
"Best Of Times" returns to a measured tempo, with prominent saxophone passages and an unusually open vocal melody. "TV Star" increases the pace again, its direct rhythmic attack providing a useful change before the closing track. On "Velvet Refrain" the guitars sound brighter and the vocal harmonies become fuller. The song offers the album's clearest sense of melodic resolution without insisting that grief itself has been resolved.
Rose has developed the electronic approach of 2023's "Love as Projection" into a set of songs with heavier percussion, greater textural variation and a deeper interest in sustained tension. A few passages in the middle stretch depend too much on atmosphere, and her fondness for layered effects occasionally obscures a strong melody. Still, Hila contains detailed production, expressive singing and several compelling ways of handling the uneasy relationship between memory and absence. Its strongest songs communicate that subject through decisions you can hear in the bass, drums and voice.
Rating: [4/5]