Deep Is The Way: Second album by Gena Rose Bruce

Gena Rose Bruce’s sophomore album Deep Is The Way navigates emotional turmoil, fragility, death and honesty on her sophomore album. Following her 2019 debut album Can’t Make You Love Me, Gena Rose Bruce is cementing her position and distinguishing her talents among the ranks of Australia’s singer-songwriter crowd. Milk Bar had the pleasure to chat about her the new album and upcoming performance at Meadow Festival.

Congratulations on your second album Deep Is The Way. There are so many strong contenders among the pack. Can you tell our readers where you drew inspiration on piecing this album together? 

Thank you! Honestly, it’s a personal record, so there is a lot and a little of everything in there, but I guess some of the recurring themes are relationships, grief and a loss of passion for my music and then the stories behind how I dealt with those moments.

How would you describe the mood of your sophomore album? And how has your writing evolved since your debut smash Can’t Make You Love Me? 

Again, it’s more of a personal record so it’s a little deep, a little dark, and a little like a twisted old fairytale. I think I’ve naturally over time become more sure of what I want to say in my songs so I think with this second record I’m a lot more honest and have fewer characters per se, it’s all about me!

‘Foolishly In Love’, ‘Future’ and ‘Misery and Misfortune’ are stand-out tunes. Are there any particular songs that are especially close to your heart? 

Very cool – ‘Misery’ and ‘Misfortune and Future’ are actually both my personal favourites songs from the record!

How did you begin collaborating with Bill Callahan? What was it like working with him? 

During the pandemic, it all came about. We were lucky enough to be put in contact via a mutual friend, and then from there, I sent Bill a bunch of demos I was working on for my next album! We were both quite new to co-writing, and both of us just wanted to give it a go, there was no pressure or expectation of a result. I think the circumstances we were under were probably perfect for both of our introverted personalities, as the co-writing was all over email, with no time limit really. We just wrote lyrics back and forth to each other, Bill kind of felt like a pen pal.

Tell us why you’re keen to play at Meadow in March. What can festival goers expect from your set? 

Because Meadow is awesome and the rest of the lineup is so great, let’s hope the weather shows up too – You can expect a lot of fun from us as my band, and I are having such a great time playing this new album, and we do hope to take you to another universe of course.

What are some of your favourite Spotify playlists you’ve come across? 

 I recently just watched the new version of High Fidelity and I’m really enjoying the official playlist of that on Spotify. 

Gena Rose Bruce’s Australian tour kicks off at Meadow Festival on Saturday 1 April and will perform at The Gaso on Friday 28 April.

Meadow Festival returns to the iconic Bambra Bowl on Friday 31 March to Sunday 3 April 2023, with international headliner Kurt Vile and his band The Violators, featuring London’s post punk revivalists Black Midi and a local line-up of Jen Cloher, Kučka, Cash Savage & The Last Drinks, Big Scary, Agung Mango and many more. Tickets here.

Gena Rose Bruce
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Image: Maximum Person