Blue Roses: 'I Am Leaving'

This serenely beautiful single, the second to be taken from the Bradford band’s eponymous debut album, is spectral folk-pop at its finest.

Based around a plucked, circular acoustic guitar figure, augmented by accordion and gentle percussion, 'I Am Leaving' is elevated into the realms of the sublime by singer Laura Groves’ astonishing voice, which is at times playful and quirky and at others soars with a haunting, ethereal power.

Joanna Newsom is clearly an inspiration, but even she would struggle to express the eerily allusive lyrics with the same baroque drama. Perhaps what is even more remarkable is that the B-side is very nearly as good.



Released on 1st June 2009 by XL Recordings.

Written by Sam Monk.