Rosenthal
Born from personal loss, Rosenthal crafts Luna as an intimate, atmospheric debut—blending grief, vulnerability, and dreamy textures into a deeply human and emotionally resonant journey.
1. “Luna” feels like a deeply atmospheric and emotional journey. What was the initial spark that inspired you to create this debut album?
The majority of the album was written in the wake of losing my father to cancer, and making these songs became very much my way of dealing with the grief my family and I were going through. So the initial spark to make this album came from a very personal place, which is probably why the songs feel like a deep and emotional journey.
2. Your sound blends indie pop with dreamy psychedelia, drawing comparisons to bands like New Order and The Cure. How do you balance honouring those influences while shaping your own identity?
Overall, I don’t worry too much about whether the songs have a similar vibe to my musical influences. I generally just follow my gut instinct when making music and trust that people will like the songs, as long as I like them myself. If anything, I feel proud to be compared to those bands, because their music has meant so much to me.
3. Many of the tracks on Luna explore themes of vulnerability, fear, and transformation – especially songs like “Afraid of Stairs.” How personal are these narratives for you?
They are very personal to me. I use music very much as a way of dealing with life’s ups and downs, and if my thoughts on everything from grief and fear to memory and resilience can resonate with others, that would definitely mean a lot to me.
4. The production on the album has a warm, lo-fi yet immersive quality. What was it like working with Magnus Vad, and how did they help bring your vision to life?
Magnus is a brilliant sound engineer and very good at realizing whatever idea I have for a song or a sound. My overall vision was to make a record with a raw and organic vibe, and I think Magnus did an excellent job of achieving exactly that.
5. You’ve already built a strong live presence across cities like London and Copenhagen. How do you translate the intimate, dreamy sound of “Luna” into a live performance setting?
The ‘concept’ for recording “Luna” was actually to capture how the songs had sounded when my friends and I had played them at shows in, for instance, London and Copenhagen. The majority of the songs were recorded live in the studio over a weekend, and I then spent a long time adding vocals, extra guitars, and synthesizers to the songs. But, overall, there is not much difference between the sound of the album and the songs being played in a live performance setting.