Mon Rovia

One Liner:  Lovely indie singer with an unexpected background

Wikipedia Genre:  No Wikipedia, but indie

Home: Tennessee (via Liberia)

Poster Position: 22
Weekend One Only.
Friday at 1:40.

BMI Stage.

Thoughts:  The name actually has a cool ass little weird type thing in it.  Not just "Rovia," but "RovÎa."  That character is called "Latin Capital Letter I With Circumflex."  So, this dude has some Circumflex to him for sure.

Monrovia is the capital and largest city of Liberia, and is also a city in California, Alabama, Indiana, Kansas, and Maryland.  His website bio states that he was rescued from war in Liberia and now lives in the mountains of Tennessee.  He doesn't sound like a native African-accented singer in the slightest.  Another write up about him says that his true name is Janjay Lowe and that he immigrated to American in the 90's during the Liberian civil war.  He was adopted after a few years of life in war, by a missionary family who brought him to America where everything seemed unreal and amazing.  And too fast.  Which totally tracks for me.  It is all too damn fast.

He cites Bon Iver, Vampire Weekend, Fleet Foxes, Boy n Bear (not familiar with that one), and Passion Pit as some musical inspirations, and you can definitely hear that in here.  Really beautiful music.

Unfortunately, his first release was a 2020 collaboration with Kenny Beats, who is also on the ACL poster, and it is terrible in comparison to the rest of these songs.  Very bad, very basic EDM thing that sounds like a remix.  We'll act like that one didn't happen.  After that, a few singles and EPs, including 2020's Sunburnt, 2021's Dark Continent, 2023's Act 1: The Wandering, Act 2: The Trials, and 2024's Act 3: The Dying of Self.  No true albums in there.  The biggest streamer is a 2023 single that didn't make any of those EPs - "Big Love Ahead" - with 8.7 million streams.

Sounds like something that should have been on the Juno soundtrack of something.  Very basic, but also very lovely.  Feels like it cuts off at the end, which is odd, but the one on Spotify does the same.  HIs second biggest streamer is off of the newest EP, surprisingly, and is called "City on a Hill."  4.4 million streams.

So nice - just everything about it, his voice, the simple accompaniment, the touching lyrics, the harmonies.  This whole set of tunes is so pretty, I've just let it play for way longer than needed.  One more for good measure, from the Act 1 EP - "To Watch the World Spin Without You," 5.1 million streams.

Like poetry from my guardian angel.  I am frequently stuck watching TV and wishing I was not.  DO you ever get that feeling?  Like, I want to wind down at the end of the day, but the only option I ever really use is the dumb ass TV.  This dude from Liberia is speaking to me right now.  I need to call him since he said he'll be around for me.  Anyone have his number?