The Key Studio Sessions: RoseMary Fiki

Philly singer and songwriter RoseMary Fiki defies easy categorization. Her songs dynamically blend dancefloor-ready funk, groove-oriented soul, and a lot of in-your-face rock and roll. You’ll hear aching romantic ballads alongside fierce punk blasts with rapped breakdowns. A charisma machine, Fiki embodies all these styles, and has been working crowds from various Philly stages for the past three years.

This April, Fiki put out The Great Unknown, her latest EP and most refined effort to date. It pushes the flashy production of earlier tracks to the side to bring focus onto her songwriting, and with her three-piece backing band – Naeemah Maddox on guitar, Lucien Dowdell on bass and Adam Brooks on drums –  these songs come to life both on record and in the studio for this week’s Key Session. 

The brand new “Pro” has a quirky, askew groove to it; as the guitar licks rise and fall and the drumbeats race, Fiki uses the half-chanted / half-sang hook to effectively have a call and response with herself. (Pretty cool, right?) “Shapes” is a soaring modern rock power ballad, with Maddox contributing emotive harmonies; the very fun “Ooh” is Fiki’s self-described ode to Aretha Franklin and James Brown, and the energy on this performance would best be described with a handful of fire emoji.

Stream and download the full set below, and check out a VuHaus video of “Come To Me” – a rager that left everybody in the room breathless. We definitely encourage you to experience it in person: Fiki and her band perform on Thursday, November 12th at Bourbon and Branch. Tickets and more information on the show can be found at the XPN Concert Calendar.

[vuhaus category=”videos” item=”rosemary-fiki-come-to-me-the-key-studio-session” ][/vuhaus]