Berliner Rosa Anschütz has made herself known in the alternative scene underground not only for his musical proposal (curious that his first single “Rigid” exploded in 2019 thanks to a pumped-up remix in a techno-industrial key) but also for some installations and artistic works of various kinds.
“Sabbatical” was born in the memory of a long experience in Vienna (the musician tells us that “the places of memory are always a mirror of the past and the present”), revealing itself to be the most ambitious work among those created so far: fourteen songs, always balanced between intimate electronic experimentation and impulses darkwave full of anxiety and restlessness.
The above alternation is a constant, even only in the three tracks that open the album. In fact, if “Eva” feeds on a ghostly avant-garde, with “Plaster Copy” there is an air of post-punk updated to the depression of today, waiting for the full five minutes of “Double Cross”, where Anschütz renews her love for Nico and for a certain dark songwriting here still shyly solemn.
Although some passages of “Sabbatical” are deliberately sketchy (very interesting spoken word of “Tacheles”, with a branded environmental carpet Coil), the thread that binds the various compositions is quite solid and coherent. Immediately after the halfway point, the album gives us the best of Rosa Anschütz: “Fire Lily” rises in intensity until it overwhelms us with a refrain repeated like a mantra, while “Protect Your Sleep” is pure sonic slime for restless souls. Above all, there is always the austere performance of our protagonist, even when from a valuable ethereal interlude like “Burlap” we return to breathe in the heart of the abyss (“Sun Tavern” represents one of the undisputed peaks of the work).
The final trio brings us back down to earth, where it is possible to savor a certain pop elegance (“Swan Song”) not without profound melancholy suggestions. This is the formula of “Sabbatical”, a record in which every little glimmer of light ends up being suffocated by a mood nostalgic, dreamy and not very reassuring.
For the German musician this is undoubtedly a positive return, even if we still cannot speak of a leap in quality compared to previous efforts. Some ideas need to be developed better, but overall this is an album full of valid and engaging ideas.
09/10/2025
Antonio Santini for SANREMO.FM
