SF: So while you had the consistency we talked about for this record, as far as where you recorded and who you recorded with, your life outside of the music consisted of a lot of big life changes in between records, is that something that you feel manifested itself throughout Bite Down?

RM: For sure. In that time I quit drinking, I left Philly after living there for 12 years and having such a community there, and I had some other areas of personal upheaval. You know, just life stuff. It was really difficult. Then I settled in North Carolina in this totally rural setting and took a break from playing for a bit. It was a very inward period and was about getting right with myself. I think the attitude on a lot of these songs is from that perspective. It was less in the moment and in the feelings, and more looking back from a standpoint of having grown and now feeling rooted. And also not having the crutch of drinking to loosen me up, it came from very intentional moments of writing and having to create ritual around my process. In that way, I feel like it is a deeper commitment to myself and my art, and feeling really empowered by that.

SF: I’m glad you brought up Philadelphia. You’ve always been a favorite of WXPN and I was curious now that your time in Philly is over, how you might look back at that time in your life and how that might have shifted the arc of your career?

RM: I grew up playing music and performing as a kid and in college, but I don’t think I got really serious about songwriting and making music until I moved to Philly. The scene there in the early to mid-2000s was really fun and vibrant and really cross-genre. I would go to a lot of house shows in West Philly, everything from a noise show in a warehouse to a freak folk show. It felt like a small town / big town situation. It was really fertile ground to hear people and see what they were doing. Jack Rose, Meg Baird, Kurt Vile, et cetera. The underground scene there is very strong and exciting.

There’s also the whole Philly attitude. It’s a tough city and I think that definitely helped me roughen up. I grew up in the midwest and I think Philly gave me a little bit of an edge and this power that I don’t think I could have found anywhere else. Also, a lot of the people I collaborated with I met there. Long Hots was a big project for me that I think has a very Philly sound. Then just having other musicians come through and tour. That’s how I met Mowed Sound. So I don’t know if being somewhere else I would have ever had those connections and interactions. It was all very formative for sure.

SF: I’m a really big fan of the album art for Bite Down. How did that come about?

RM: First off, I think the cover is funny. I didn’t want to look pretty, which is something I think women in music are expected to do. I also didn’t want to take myself too seriously. So when I had my inspiration boards going for my album art, I had a bunch of vintage horror movie posters, Japanese and Italian movies, all slightly campy. But then also I think I was very connected to nature throughout the writing process for this record. I wrote a lot while being out in nature. So I was kind of playing with those themes. I took tons of photos the day of the photo shoot but at one point I was just standing behind this curly willow making all these faces just to loosen up. My photographer friend Asia Harman was snapping away and when I got that photo back I just couldn’t stop laughing and couldn’t stop looking at it. It was a little scary because it is bonkers but I also wanted to challenge myself to embody this kind of wild nature. I also wanted to push up against the pigeon-holing I sometimes get of, you know, the sensitive singer-songwriter, when I do a lot more than that. I think the cover is a little shocking, which is what I wanted.

Rosali and The Mowed Sound performs live at Johnny Brendas on Saturday, April 13th; tickets and more information on the show can be found at the WXPN Concert Calendar.

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