B-Side Guys

Some songs gain their power from embracing the unglamorous, and Oh, Rose’s “Toilet Water” transforms mundane anxieties into something approaching revelation. The third single from their album “Dorothy” proves that sometimes the most profound truths can be found circling the drain.

Olivia Rose’s elastic vocals wrap around confessional lyrics with the kind of authenticity that makes the Pacific Northwest music scene feel perpetually vital. “I’ve got a lot of problems, still” becomes both chorus and mantra, the “still” hanging in the air like Seattle rain, suggesting both continuation and stubborn resilience.

The imagery is delightfully specific – dead goldfish, April air, cold water – yet universally relatable. When Rose ponders friends leaving town over backing instrumentation that slides between shoegaze wash and indie rock muscle, she captures that particular flavor of quarter-life crisis that feels simultaneously endless and temporary.

Named after Rose’s quilter grandmother, “Dorothy” marks the band’s first release in five years, and “Toilet Water” suggests the wait was worth it. Like its namesake’s craftwork, the track pieces together disparate elements – dream pop textures, art rock ambition, confessional lyrics – into something both carefully constructed and emotionally raw.

The production maintains the intimacy of a bedroom recording while suggesting the expansiveness of Olympia’s gray skies. It’s fitting for a song that transforms the contents of a bathroom into metaphysical inquiry, finding profundity in the most prosaic of places.

The line “all of the old lips that I have kissed stink like the goldfish that I had killed” showcases Rose’s gift for unexpected metaphor, creating connections between past relationships and deceased pets that somehow make perfect emotional sense. It’s the kind of lyrical work that makes you laugh before making you think.

Since their formation in 2014, Oh, Rose has built a reputation for powerful live performances that showcase Rose’s unfiltered emotional delivery. “Toilet Water” captures that raw energy while adding layers of studio sophistication that enhance rather than obscure the band’s essential character.

The track’s structure mirrors its subject matter – circular yet progressive, like watching something spiral while maintaining its essential form. It’s a neat trick that adds depth to what could have been a simple meditation on uncertainty and stasis.

As Oh, Rose celebrates their tenth anniversary with both this new album and a reissue of their first EP, “Toilet Water” serves as evidence of how far they’ve come while maintaining their core authenticity. In transforming the everyday into the extraordinary, they’ve created something that feels both timeless and perfectly suited to this moment of collective uncertainty.