It might be smidge over-the-top to say that Rose Hotel’s Jordan Reynolds was at the end of her tether when she wrote “Fruit Tree” … but only a smidge.
“I was thinking about what I wanted from music and my career, and if that dream was even possible anymore,” says Reynolds of the latest single from her upcoming LP, A Pawn Surrender, out June 7 on Strolling Bones. “I wanted to personify the temptation of success in music as something sensual and lusted over, which brought up the image of the forbidden fruit.”
But the song’s narrative POV isn’t what you’d expect. “The lyrics are written from the perspective of the fruit tree, with the tantalizing voice of an alluring woman,” she says. “It’s sort of a ‘be careful what you wish for’ tune.”
Now a well-regarded contributor to Atlanta’s music scene, Reynolds was just 19 when she started playing keyboards with Kentucky-based indie prog-rockers Buffalo Rodeo. From there, she provided support for the likes of Susto and fellow Atlantan Faye Webster—and she mined those connections for A Pawn Surrender, a moody singer/songwriter affair offset by some intense rock moments. The album was coproduced by Reynolds with Atlanta-based engineers Damon Moon (Bathe Alone) and Graham Tavel (Material Girls) and mixed by acclaimed producer Drew Vandenberg, who’s worked with Webster, S.G Goodman and Of Montreal, among others.
The “Fruit Tree” video was directed by Hannah Welever of Chicago’s award-winning Good Trouble Films, with help from cinematographer Andrea Kinnerk.
“The world Jordan created within the song was really beautiful and immediately spoke to me,” says Kinnerk. “Once I learned of our mutual love for David Lynch, it was a fun challenge to try to emulate his style in certain scenes.”
We’re proud to premiere the video for Rose Hotel’s “Fruit Tree.”
—Hobart Rowland
