Rowena Wise is the kind of artist whose music gently envelops you, leaving a lasting impact rather than a loud entrance. She blends poeticism into swirling melodies, creating an intoxicating mix that flows like honey when combined. Wise joined Benny and Ify on Up For It to discuss her debut album, her folk roots, and the intrinsic role of music in her life from the very beginning. 

Written in her home of Naarm/Melbourne, Wise’s debut album Senseless Acts of Beauty draws inspiration from many facets of her world––the expansive Margaret River skies, the melting pot of musical influences from Joni Mitchell’s enchanting tones to the rhythmic pulse of Delta blues. 

Wise embraces vulnerability and the connection that comes from truly feeling, courageously delving into her deepest struggles to reveal the hope, illumination, and healing waiting on the other side. She ponders into the emotional upheavals of life with unfiltered authenticity, wielding a space for the awe and disorder of living. 

‘’Just knowing that people out there have their own interpretations of these songs that I have no control over is kind of magic. It makes me ejectify it a bit upon listening… and I can weirdly relate to them closer again cause everyone’s having their own experiences with them.’’

Throughout the album, moments of levity and reflection emerge, painting Wise’s music as a constant colour that is always there if you look for it. Nestled throughout the album, the achingly beautiful and indefinably nostalgic sound of Wise reveals what it is to love, lose, build, break and everything in-between, crying out “Now that I can hold it diving deepеr it’ll be ok… Now that I don’t need your love when I’m sinking’’. 

Listen back to the full interview with Ify & Benny above, and stream Rowen Wise’s latest record below.