Rosa Bordallo (f/k/a Manett) is a singer-songwriter and a Chamorro from the island of Guam. She has been living in New York City since the age of 19, and has written, recorded, and released several albums and EPs as a solo artist and as a member of the indie rock band, cholo. Her second full-length solo album, Isidro, will be released in January 2025.
“I picked up guitar in high school, and I started writing songs right away. Being a performer both terrified and beckoned me.”
She supported her musical projects with money made working an office job and moonlighting as a restaurant host, before switching full-time to the service industry. Between rehearsals, recording sessions, shows, and the day job, she also juggled being a single parent.
“Music has always been my outlet, my pressure valve. I was a really shy and awkward kid, but I loved listening to the albums that my older siblings brought back from the [United] States. Artists like Björk, PJ Harvey, David Bowie and Pixies. I wanted to have an impact the way those musicians impacted me, on the other side of the world.”
It’s the other side of the world that concerns her more and more these days. Her homeland in the Pacific is not just threatened by climate change. The Mariana Islands is one of the most militarized places on the planet – America’s so-called tip of the spear-and the people of Guam are facing yet another buildup of the American military bases that occupy over a third of the island.
“I wrote these songs in 2021 and 2022, in the shadow of the pandemic and New York City’s recovery. I was grieving personal tragedies as well as the collective loss. It was the realization that my ancestors survived their own catastrophic near-demise that gave me perspective. I’m a survivor. We all are.”
Bordallo composed all the music and lyrics for the album, but when it came time to recording it, she enlisted the help of Ben Etter, a recording engineer and producer based out of MAZE Studios in Atlanta. His work with Deerhunter and Hazel English, among others, had impressed Bordallo.
“I found Ben from the album credits of one of my favorite albums. I reached out and sent him some examples of my work, and when he agreed to work on the album, I was overjoyed. He gave me the encouragement I needed.”
At Etter’s suggestion, Bordallo finished writing and recording all her demos in advance of their recording session. Etter and Bordallo tracked the album in eight days at MAZE Studios. Atlanta musicians Sean Zearfoss filled in on drums and Keegan Krogh provided production assistance. The result is a heady blend of indie pop and lush, psychedelic electro-rock. At turns grand and intimate, the dulcet tones of Bordallo’s voice thread through a rich and polyphonic tapestry of shimmering synths, lively rhythms, and searing guitar solos.
The last song on the 10-track album is also its first single, and its ironic tongue-in-cheek title belies the blistering emotionality of its orchestral rock wall-of-sound. Just like the rest of the album, “I Feel Numb” leaves the listener feeling anything but.
Bordallo explains the origin of “Crasseux”:
“The opening lyrics describe a scene I imagined from history, when Ferdinand Magellan arrived in the Marianas in 1521. It was the first known contact between Pacific Islanders and Europeans, and the clash of worlds was violent. The rest of the song is a reverie on someone I loved and lost. The feelings blur into other losses I grieve – like the elders that helped raise me and have passed on. Those memories and the accompanying ache, it all runs into each other. I started writing the groove with the guitar, and then I found that a marching beat made it more interesting and carried it forward. The dynamic – between conflicts, internal and external – is something I hoped to convey. Life is so complicated. Like you could still miss someone who also caused you tremendous pain. You could still appreciate what those connections gave you, even after you had to move on from them.”
Rosa Bordallo
Isidro
(Self-Released)
Street Date: Jan. 31, 2025
Pre-order HERE
Track List:
1. Intro
2. Home
3. Forest Honey
4. Rogue Wave
5. Crasseux
6. Leavetaking
7. Cycads of Micronesia
8. Silk Moth’s Revenge
9. Buried Treasure
10. I Feel Numb