Lena Morris isn’t interested in shortcuts. ‘Rouge’, her second EP, is four tracks recorded live, bass, drums, and rhythm guitar captured in real time at Motif Music Studio in Paris, and the result is exactly what that process promises: urgent, human, and unfiltered blues-rock with nowhere to hide.
The EP is built around a five-card cross tarot spread, with each song embodying a card and a corresponding emotional state. Nostalgia, passion, anxiety, acceptance. It’s a concept that could feel precious in the wrong hands. Morris pulls it off because the songs earn it. “Buying a Donkey” opens with a restless desire to break free. “Red” reignites passion from a cold start. “Young Blood” calls back the fearless kid she once was. “Dancing In Hell” closes the record by choosing to move with fear rather than against it.
The music draws deep from 1970s blues-rock, but Morris isn’t recreating the past. No autotune, no AI, no digital instruments. That’s a deliberate artistic choice, and it shows. The performances are visceral and grounded, the kind of sound you can only get when real people play together in a room.
Singles “Red” and “Young Blood” have already crossed 86,000 streams on Spotify, proof that this approach is connecting. Morris also designed and illustrated the cover artwork herself, making ‘Rouge’ a fully realized artistic statement from the inside out.
‘Rouge’ is out now.
Tracklist:
Buying a Donkey
Red
Young Blood
Dancing In Hell