Rozi Plain

With an approach that’s intricate and quietly off-center, U.K. alt-folk musician Rozi Plain emerged with her solo debut, Inside Over Here, in 2008. Over the course of the next decade, she expanded her soft-spoken electro-acoustic sound while touring with artists including Devendra Banhart, James Yorkston, and This Is the Kit. Collaborators on her fourth LP, 2019′s What a Boost, included, among others, Sam Amidon, Chris Cohen, and sir Was, and an equally diverse roster of guests populated 2023′s nevertheless intimate Prize.
Originally from Winchester in Hampshire, Rosalind Leyden was 16 when her brother Sam (aka Romanhead) took over the open-mike night at a local pub and encouraged her to perform. Her first album as Rozi Plain, 2008′s Inside Over Here, was recorded partly in Winchester with her brother and partly in Scotland with Fence Records founder Kenny Anderson (aka King Creosote). By the time of the record’s release, Plain had relocated to Bristol to study art. While there, she co-founded the Cleaner Records collective with Sam and musicians including singer/songwriter Rachael Dadd and François Marry (François & the Atlas Mountains). Around that time, she also began collaborating with Kate Stables of This Is the Kit. Featuring nearly a dozen guests, including Dadd and Stables, Plain’s second album, Joined Sometimes Unjoined, arrived in 2012 via Fence and Talitres Records.
Plain then moved base to London, though she spent more and more time on the road, both solo and with various bands. Her third album, Friend, included performances by Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor and members of François & the Atlas Mountains. It arrived in 2015 on Lost Map Records. A set of remixes and outtakes called Friend of a Friend followed a year later. Plain put the finishing touches on the songs for her next album while touring the world on bass for This Is the Kit. Co-produced by This Is the Kit’s Jamie Whitby Coles, What a Boost was released by Memphis Industries in 2019. Over the next two years, recording sessions at various locations including Shorebreaker studio in French Basque Country and participants’ homes provided the basis for Plain’s next full-length, January 2023′s Prize (Memphis Industries). Co-produced by Plain and Coles, its core backing band comprised Coles (drums), Amaury Ranger (bass), and Gerard Black (keyboards and synths). Among its many guests were saxophonist Alabaster DePlume and, again, Stables. ~ Marcy Donelson