Eleni Drake - “Rookie”
We welcome Eleni Drake back on the blog with her latest release, “Rookie,” the most recent single from her upcoming LP, Surf The Sun.
There’s a reason we’ve featured Drake’s music numerous times on our site– there’s likely many reasons, but one of them is the amount of introspection that her tracks inspire. “Rookie” happens to be a song about the longing for personal liberation, a concept to which many listeners will be able to relate. And the way she goes about delivering this message is fresh, yet will also bring about a sense of nostalgia.
This leads us to another reason that Drake can always win us over: that sweet, vintage vibe. She has a way of producing modern pop songs that borrow the style and richness from yesteryear. And this makes sense when you discover that she was listening to The Mamas & The Papas, Jefferson Airplane, and Billy Swan as she wrote “Rookie.” Each instrument sounds as though it’s being played by actual human beings, which is at the top of our list of things to look for in the tracks we review.
When you hear “Rookie,” you are getting the fusion of a retro sound and a more contemporary vocal– picture Adrianne Lenker or Julien Baker singing over some forgotten 1970s instrumental. And while this is not completely unheard of in today’s music, it’s still a wonderful surprise when it all comes together as perfectly as this.
About the track, Drake adds: “I wrote Rookie with a sense of openness and relief in mind. The song itself is actually about wanting to feel freedom, but also feeling like I had to stay because of relationships I had in and around my life, and once I gained the courage to make the decision to leave, a wave of liberation followed with it.”
Be sure to keep your eyes peeled for her upcoming LP, Surf The Sun, due for release on May 19th.
-TM