Edmonton’s ROSINA COVE release “Kenwood,” first single from sophomore album, Left Of Me
Rosina Cove is an Edmonton, Alberta-based musical collective led by singer-songwriter Peter Stone and close friends Vicky Berg and Drew Malcolm that offers unpretentious Canadiana with a big heart. Debuting in 2023 with the album Someday We Will Make It There, the group is now poised to release the follow-up, Left Of Me, at the start of 2027.
The first single, “Kenwood,” is a prime example of Rosina Cove’s instantly engaging sound, with its blend of bright jangle-pop and breezy folk-rock, highlighted by expressive harmonies and sparkling production, courtesy of Harry Gregg, also a member of Juno nominees Second Hand Dreamcar. Peter Stone describes it as a song about unexpectedly finding love in the aftermath of an abusive relationship.
“‘Kenwood’ is a reflection on how new love is sometimes built one small moment at a time,” he says. “Learning how someone takes their coffee, sharing stories over cider, listening to records together, and slowly discovering what it feels like to be safe in another person’s presence. What begins as a slow dance of companionship becomes connection, and connection becomes a place to breathe, to soften, and to begin healing from the trauma of what came before.”
Incredibly, “Kenwood” along with the rest of Left Of Me, was recorded live-off-the-floor, a process that Stone admits was only possible due to the exceptional musical abilities of each member of Rosina Cove, some of whom are among Alberta’s best singer-songwriters with solo careers of their own. Stone managed to coax them together first as friends, but soon all were committed to bringing out the best in the material he presented to them.
The seeds of Rosina Cove were sown when Stone and Malcolm saw the Edmonton stop on The Tragically Hip’s 2016 farewell tour. Sitting in a bar after the show, they were overwhelmed by witnessing a band of life-long friends performing together for one of the final times, and that notion prompted the pair to make the most of their opportunities to create music together.
Stone explains,
“Rosina Cove started out as a place to escape, a place to hang out with friends and play simple songs. Over the past few years it’s become a lot more. It’s now my primary place for artistic expression, so the songs are a lot more honest, even uncomfortable at times. But it’s a project involving a group of people who I feel understand the things that sit deep in my bones, and who can make the tunes as big as they feel necessary.”
For Stone, who previously co-fronted the contemporary folk duo 100 Mile House, Rosina Cove has also allowed him to plug in and make a lot more noise. He cites The War On Drugs as a recent musical influence, but lyrically, he says that the poetry of the late Andrea Gibson and Megan Falley made a lasting impression. “I read them incessantly when I was writing songs for Left Of Me, and there are lots of themes that resonated. A big one was the way Andrea spoke about dying and how it made their heart bigger than it had ever been.”
In total, the songs on Left Of Me form an album about resilience, which at the same time doesn’t deny that healing is not a simple or linear process. The record moves through memory, intimacy, family, fear, love and reconnection, reflecting the experiences Peter Stone and Drew Malcolm have navigated over the past few years. Having emerged stronger, Rosina Cove is now poised to join the conversation about Canada’s most promising new bands.