Maggie Rose - No One Gets Out Alive
By Holly Smith
Rose reminds us that even the coldest of truths can be a statement of power.
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Maggie Rose - No One Gets Out Alive
Label: Big Loud Records
Producer: Ben Tanner
Release Date: April 5, 2024
Tracklisting:
1. No One Gets Out Alive
2. Fake Flowers
3. Under the Sun
4. Only Time Around
5. Thinking of You
6. Too Young
7. Mad Love
8. Underestimate Me
9. Dead Weight
10. Vanish
11. Lonely War
12. Another Sad Song
On Maggie Rose’s first album on independent label Big Loud, the spirit of independence is hammered heavily into its musical mast as well. Full of empowering anthems and boot-stomping choruses, this is an album made by a child of noughties soundtracks and ‘90s girl groups. ‘60s pop and heart stopping orchestral soul run throughout with an irreverent ‘90s wink and a 2024 stamp of genre swinging.
Take the groove of a track like ‘Underestimate Me’, with a Salt-N-Pepa twang, its staccato phrasing lifts the smoothness of Rose’s voice from questioning to instructing, punctuating each line like an exclamation mark. Followed by the southern rock meets Americana soul anthem, ‘Dead Weight’, the tracks run into each other as the party hits full force.
It’s a distinctly feminine record, combining its potent strands of confessional dramatism with heavily thrown kernels of absolute truth. “No one gets out alive” wails the soulful title track, delivered with such rollicking conviction that, whether you’re looking at it from a pessimistic or optimistic point of view, you’re still dancing underneath the cinematic downpour of its strings.
There are cracks too, though, not just brave faces, and Rose’s capable vibrato voice sails across them just as confidently. ‘Mad Love’ sways with a Bond theme seductiveness, while ‘Thinking Of You’ is sweetly vulnerable in its lyricism. “If I’m sitting still I know that I will keep thinking of you,” she whispers.
When the album’s not busy being relatable, it’s cleverly self-referential, too. ‘Another Sad Song’ tells of the pitfalls of being in the entertainment industry in 2024, when songs and emotions are demanded to order on a constant churn. “Despite my intentions it’s so very clear, it’s just another sad song that nobody’s gonna hear”, she says. Instead of moping, it uses its wry smile wisely, as Rose reminds us that even the coldest of truths can be a statement of power.
8.5/10
Maggie Rose’s 2024 project, No One Gets Out Alive, is available April 5 via Big Loud Records.
