A mourners melody: A review of ‘Meet You in the Morning’ by Rosie Miles
Rosie Miles, an alt-folk songwriter based in Leeds, released her second EP Meet You in the Morning on January 10th of this year. Consisting of six heart-wrenching tracks, each one is connected by a singular theme: grief.
By sharing her ‘most personal songs’, Miles offers an opportunity for her audience to understand the artist behind the music, and the stripped-back sound ensures that every lyric is not just heard, but felt.
Described by Rosie as ‘a labour of love and loss’, this EP is packed with poignance and pain, and has been carefully crafted to portray grief as a complex yet universal experience. Through these six songs, it becomes clear that grief can arise for many reasons beyond the loss of life. While songs such as After You and When Somebody discuss the physical loss of a person, tracks like La Camionnette and On Solitude offer a broader perspective by exploring grief in relation to lost relationships and past versions of oneself.
Five years in the making, this EP offers insight into how grief transforms over time, with each track representing a different point in Rosie’s healing process.
The non-linear ordering of the songs reflects the illogicality of grief and how no grieving experience is ever truly orderly or identical. For example, the opening track, Meet You in the Morning, reflects an acceptance of loss and change, mirroring the stereotypical final stage of grief. The song expresses the realisation that no matter how tough times are, the night will end and the morning will come. Conversely, the closing track represents the first stage of grief experienced immediately after loss. Lyrics such as “I don’t want to wear dark, for someone so bright” and “I don’t want to choose flowers to be arranged” showcase an inability to accept loss as reality, instead revealing a mourner’s instinct to reject the situation in order to repress their pain.
Nostalgia can be a thief of joy, and grieving a period of life is almost as painful as grieving a person. La Camionnette is a heartbreak song with no aggrieved feelings: “you’re an extraordinary person / you took our dreams and you made them happen / we fell in love with the sky so blue / I tried my best to fall in love with you.” This is an ode of gratitude for the happiness that person gave to Rosie; however, it equally serves as an apology for the blurred lines between love for the person and love for their shared memories.
With grief comes loneliness, which can be a devastating side effect for some. However, Rosie reshapes the notion that solitude is suffocating, and instead presents it as a liberating experience in the third track. Having time to be yourself, wholly and authentically, allows for immense growth and healing and can be a deeply rewarding experience. With On Solitude, Rosie urges her listeners to wallow in their loneliness and allow themselves to grieve, but to also use their pain as motivation to transform themselves for the better.
It is a harsh presumption in society that grief solely follows the death of a loved one, but After You aims to reframe this view. Grieving a person who is still alive is a pain incomparable to any other, because the cure to your ache is just out of reach. This song is a confessional piece that reveals how grief has appeared in Rosie’s life in many forms, and yet opens new wounds every time.
How Did We Get This Far? is a dichotomous track that both celebrates and mourns the passage of time. It stands out amongst the others, as it focuses on what Rosie has, rather than what she has lost. This song is an ode to the friendships that are able to heal you in your weakest moments – it is truly a blessing to be “surrounded by friends who’ve carried [you] to shore.”
While no grieving experience is identical, there is a familiar ritual carried out by society each time. When Somebody was written to describe the pain these routines bring: “I don’t want to hear hymns, when somebody dies / when they start singing and you know it’s goodbye” and “I don’t want to wear black, for someone so bright / everyone knows that it doesn’t feel right.” This track is ultimately about resisting the ‘expected’ way of grieving that is routine and formal, and instead accepting a loss in your own way and in your own time.
The beauty of this collection lies in how every song feels more personal than the last, every lyric spoken directly from the heart. This is not casual background music; it’s an immersive experience that requires – and deserves – your full attention to appreciate its true beauty. If you’ve ever grieved a loss, no matter the form, Meet You in the Morning is the EP for you.
Those wanting to dive more deeply into Rosie Miles’ music are in luck, as she’s releasing a new single tomorrow called Letters to a Lost Poet, a “love letter to all the writers, poets and songwriters who have kept [her] company and reminded [her] that they too felt lost.” The new single can be pre-saved here.
As always, make sure to follow Rosie Miles on Instagram for the latest updates, and listen to the rest of her discography on Spotify below: