There’s a chance that your mother may know, or at least know of, the song “Alaska,” by Maggie Rogers, even if she doesn’t know it. It was heard first by Pharrell Williams in a New York University masterclass, then by millions, driven by video of Pharrell’s reaction to the song first on Reddit, then Facebook and Twitter. In the moment, Rogers looked terrified and tense, looking mostly at the ground, occasionally around the room, and once mustering the courage to look at Pharrell himself, who let out a smile.
Pharrell was was impressed — shocked, even. Of “Alaska,” Rogers’ first song that hit iTunes after she signed to a record label, “I have zero notes for that … It’s because you’re doing your own thing. It’s singular… and that is such a special quality.” Now, the song, with some minor adjustments, is the second track and the staple of Rogers’ first commercial release, Now That The Light Is Fading. The light, bouncy track that layers natural and man-made sounds is worth the reaction from Pharrell and the rest of the collective internet. The harmonies and the mish-mosh of natural and produced sounds stay through the entire EP, but not much else stays the same.
“Color Song” is a meticulous build up to the album, as Rogers harmonizes above natural sounds, most notably crickets chirping. It’s the least intriguing of the five songs on the EP, and isn’t a great indicator for Rogers’ next few tracks, where the pace is picked up dramatically as the beat is pop-driven.
The next three tracks, which were all released as singles in the build-up of her first ever commercial release, are a fantastic showing of why Rogers doesn’t have a direct comparison — why Pharrell was so shocked when he first heard “Alaska.” But after the well-written “Alaska,” Rogers’ writing falls off a bit, as if she has waded further into pop and away from her initial roots in folk. On “On + Off,” she all but loses the natural, folk-sounding Rogers that starts the EP, with a hypnotic electronic pop riff. There are still beautiful melodies through the track, but it’s a complete distancing of the natural, truly-alternative sound that impressed Pharrell in that NYU classroom.
This is the budding greatness but also the crux of Maggie Rogers — being able to do so many interesting things in her music, but not finding herself in one thing. It’s what makes it so hard to find a comparison for her, because so few before have combined the genres of pop, folk and dance like she has. Still, at 22 years old and a recent NYU graduate, she’s developed drastically from her days of singing acoustically on a staircase, guitar in hand, and her talent is only budding. While she has a long way to go in pinning down exactly who she is as an artist, she’s already proven that there are so many things she can be.
Recommended If You Like: Sylvan Esso, Lorde, Feist
Recommended Tracks: 2 (Alaska), 3 (On + Off), 4 (Dog Years)
Do Not Play: 1 (Color Song)
Written by Christian Hardy on 03/06/2017