Rosemary & Garlic is the solo project for Dutch songwriter Anne van den Hoogen, which was originally a folk and pop collaboration that she began with Dolf Smolenaers in 2014. With Dolf now involved as co-producer, van den Hoogen is swiftly coming into her own as a musical and emotional storyteller—using the piano, the acoustic drums, and her soft vocal presence as primary messengers in a lofty, enchanted conversation that also features cello, acoustic guitar, and other electronic embellishments.
I am not typically a fan of long intros but Anne's immense talent cares not for convention, and her confident, airy notes eventually arrive—like a wizard from Tolkien's Middle Earth—perfectly on time and precisely as intended. With lyrical and artistic references that range from Virginia Woolf to Lydia Luce, Rosemary & Garlic delivers as promised on a 'lush and lilting' style of indie folk. Her sound is enigmatically both casual and elegant; unforced, yet potent. We look forward to hearing more from this one-of-a-kind artist who is not afraid to print a fresh page in the book of folk idiom.
