Rose Ganache, the indie-rock outfit crafted by local musicians MeShell Wolf and James Coburn, was born of a special type of opposites-attract musical fusion. Wolf and Coburn are a study in contrasts, at least in terms of their individual musical upbringings.
“James and I have such different backgrounds that, with our styles combined, you get this unique flavor,” said Wolf, who grew up in South Dakota writing folk-centric solo acoustic tunes.
Coburn went to the College of Charleston, soaking in all that live music had to offer with a special appreciation for the improvisational nature of the jam-band scene.
The two met about four years ago at an open jam in downtown Charleston. What attracted Coburn was Wolf’s neatly written compositions and the emotion behind what she created.
“When I heard her songs, I could literally hear and see just this great band around them … her songs had this feeling … I just got really excited to bring that sort of live element, the electric element, to it,” Coburn said.
Wolf was drawn toward Coburn’s fluidity and the unpredictability of a looser live show. “It was really good for me to open up to that,” she said. The two joined forces and created an acoustic act.
After a few years of playing together as a duo, the pandemic hit. The isolation and lack of live gigs forced Wolf and Coburn to look inward, reevaluating their musical ambitions. Through this reflection, they formed the current iteration of their sonic partnership, Rose Ganache. “We decided to take a new direction with it,” Coburn said.
The two consider Rose Ganache to be an ever-evolving songwriting project. During lockdown, they had the opportunity to virtually collaborate with Ryan Stasik and Kris Myers of renowned jam group Umphrees McGhee. The result was Madness From Two, Rose Ganache’s first EP. Marc Brownstein of the Disco Biscuits is an executive producer on the album, and he and bandmate Jon Gutwillig served as creative consultants.
Wolf and Coburn had the chance to head to Los Angeles to record Madness From Two at Wyman Studios. “To say it was a surreal experience would be an understatement from my perspective,” Coburn said. The recording process was made all the more memorable by the fact that the two artists got engaged the day after they finished the album, cementing their partnership in more ways than one.
Madness From Two melds the alt-rock attitude of the ’90s and early aughts with a folk spin that feels of-the-moment. Coburn’s robust guitar sound is mirrored by the strength of Wolf’s voice, which shines on every track. The bass and drum lines, contributed by Stasik and Myers, keep a deep and steady pace.
The EP is lyrically pensive, exuding emotions dredged up by the isolation and turmoil of the early days of the pandemic. “I do believe that our EP holds a lot of experience from self reflection during the difficult time that everybody went through and just the huge life changes that we all experienced. There’s a lot of internal reflection that I feel like can be looked at from a variety of angles,” Wolf said.
Rose Ganache is in the process of writing new music, and the artists have plans to record a second album with producers Tip Wyman and Ray Bardani at Wyman Studios in Los Angeles this summer. Listeners will get the chance to hear the tunes live too — Wolf and Coburn have been booking shows and festivals across the country, including an intimate coming-out show of sorts on March 13 at the Boom Room in Philadelphia. The performance will feature drummer Mike Greenfield of Lotus and bassist Tim Khayat of Runaway Gin.
Rose Ganache will keep entertaining an evolving roster of co-creators in the rhythm section during their shows and in recordings, furthering the idea of their project as a moving, collaborative experiment.
“We’re definitely going to be doing some acoustic, intimate stuff out there as well, but a rotating cast is where we’re really excited,” Wolf said.
“We’re just excited for the future,” Coburn agreed.
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