Rose Rose supply divine funk on latest cut "Sky Queen"

Some pop songs intensify the angst of our troubled times, while others offer a brief, delightful escape from the gloom. “Sky Queen”, the latest single from funk-focussed duo Rose Rose, is a textbook example of the latter.

Rose Rose sprang to life a decade ago when Londoner Samuel de Gunzburg and Paris-based Pierre Le Boulc'h met at a pizza joint in the City of Light. Both self-taught multi-instrumentalists with a shared
shared love of the infectious disco grooves of the '70s and '80s, it was more than just the pizza that bonded the duo together, and a new artistic vision was born: to create nostalgic and joyful funk-pop.

On the precipice of a forthcoming EP, their latest offering "Sky Queen" is a lustrous, quintessentially smooth number that feels like an homage to Nile Rodgers and Chic. You can hear the very same deft guitar work underpin their previous singles, “Sugar Hill” and “Pressure". The latter has the dancefloor energy of Ohio Players’ ’70s smash “Love Rollercoaster” – a song that has even been covered by the likes of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Explaining the influences behind the track, the duo notes ""Sky Queen" is a song about the angels depicted in old master paintings. These angels are usually painted as males, a representation we do not agree with, hence a title and lyrics that attempt to change an outdated narrative and highlight our admiration for a world with female angels. It’s a spiritual song in which we tried to combine the idea of light and dark, hope and sadness, an ambiguity we’ve always tried to suggest in our music.”

Whilst there have been plenty of female seraphim depicted in paintings by Rembrandt and Bouguereau, the dreamy keys that steer "Sky Queen" are transportive to vast murals of swirling colour and rolling clouds. It's a sad truth that many of the groove-masters that the band idolise will soon "be with the angels"; however, it's heartening to note that the legacy of these figures will live on in the next generation of artists like Rose Rose.