On my very first listen to Desert Rose, the latest single by Canadian artist Cati Landry, I was completely blown away. First off, by her vocals. Cati starts singing just seven seconds into the song. It's quick, but it instantly sets the scene: a young woman feels lost as if she’s stranded in a desert. Yet she knows that if she just keeps moving forward, she might find something. And having someone by her side for this kind of journey is a real advantage. That’s the essence of the song.

But let’s get back to what immediately captivated me: her incredible voice. Perfectly controlled in the verses, then showing off her high notes in the pre-chorus, Cati’s voice really grabs hold of us by the time we hit the chorus of Desert Rose. It takes just 45 seconds to reach that point, and there it is—that spine-tingling feeling.

I glance down at my arm just to check, and yes, my arm hairs are all standing up, like they’re lining up to honor this singer who, until now, had never crossed my path. And what a shame that was.

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More info and the full article can be read in our magazine on Patreon.

The song has been added to "Niko's Music Mixtape", our monthly virtual CD on Spotify.

Cati Landry's take on "Desert Rose"

We wrote this song on my second day in Los Angeles, working with 2 new friends and collaborators, Belaro and Olivier Bassil. I knew I wanted to write a song about the way I was feeling at the time, which was kind of disconnected and lost. There can be this kind of way you are living in silence at times but your soul is screaming, "Go, run, run wild..." and I felt that way. We started writing, and eventually we got to this idea of finding the Clyde to your Bonnie and driving into the sunset together, what would that look like and feel like?

Honestly, the night we wrote the song I cried the whole drive home, it just felt like it had tapped something deep down within me and brought this really raw and vulnerable perspective that I think I'd almost been denying. And then, a few days after we wrote the song, I ended up picking up Clarissa Pinkola Estes' famous book The Women Who Run With the Wolves from a bookshop.

The book resonated with me immediately so deeply, particularly her writing about letting yourself get lost and experiencing exile; early in the book, there was a quote that felt like it spoke to that image and what we were getting at with it in the song. "We so often start in the desert. We feel disenfranchised, alienated, not connected to anything, even a cactus clump... A woman's psyche may have found its way to the desert out of resonance or because of past cruelties or because she was not allowed a larger life above ground. So often a woman feels then that she lives in an empty place where there is maybe just one cactus with one brilliant red flower on it, and then in every direction, 500 miles of nothing.

But for the woman who will go 501 miles, there is something more... Some women don't want to be in the psychic desert. They hate the frailty, the spareness of it. They keep trying to crank a rusty jalopy and bump their way down the road to a fantasized shining city of the psyche. But they are disappointed, for the lush and the wild is not there. It is in the spirit world, that world between worlds... don't be a fool. Go back and stand under that one red flower and walk straight ahead for that last hard mile... Sift the desert and see what you find.

It is the only work we have to do." It felt like serendipity to read that - and I think this song had a little desert rose in it for me, a symbol of surviving and a message to keep going.

A bit more about Cati Landry

We may be living in a material world, but Cati Landry is an ethereal girl, and that sense of mysticism and enchantment lives like a silver lining laced throughout her songs. Born and raised on Vancouver Island in the Pacific Northwest of Canada, Miss Landry grew up on stage, and spent her formative years singing in old theatres full of velvet curtains and ghost stories; when she wasn’t performing, she could be found by the beach, dreaming up worlds to escape inside, and crafting poems & daydream lullabies.

This, in turn, led her to write songs and sing in various bands, and then to perform at jazz clubs, bars & theatres. By this time, she also began studying Literature at the University of Victoria, with a focus on the Victorian era & American transcendentalism. Next, she spent a year pursuing a Master’s in Songwriting at Berklee College of Music, where she immersed herself in the process of writing & recording her music, including her first release “Mind’s Eye,” recorded with a band in Los Angeles and produced by Neil Wogensen. With its shimmering atmosphere, captivating vocals & playful, introspective lyrics, “Mind’s Eye” offers a first glimpse into the enigmatic dreamworld of this wild-hearted, romantic girl. Cati’s most recent offering, last summer’s “Riptide,” is a dreamy folk ballad inspired by the rugged beauty of her coastal upbringing and the timeless music she grew up on, from Sinatra, Roy Orbison, and Patsy Cline to Fleetwood Mac and Mazzy Star—all filtered through the fresh & mystifying feelings that come with falling in love. She’s got the kind of spirit you’ll want to bring with you wherever life takes you, so press play and come along for the ride.

Reach out to Cati Landry

More songs from Cati Landry on Spotify

Lyrics

We could just pick up and leave, baby just pick up the keys and drive

We got everything we could need, perfect bed right in the backseat

We could just run the red lights, we could just speed through the night

Living proof, living our dreams

We could just flee the whole scene

Adrenaline rush sent me high,

Left without saying goodbye,

To a place that we don't recognize

Desert rose, will find a way to grow

Even without rain, baby, it's sweet relief

In the middle of nowhere, baby, it's you and me

Let the good times roll like a rolling stone,

We could stay the night at the desert rose

Could stay forever, make it feel like home

With you by my side, know I'll never be alone

Adrenaline rush sent me high,

Left without saying goodbye,

To a place that we don't recognize

Desert rose, will find a way to grow

Even without rain, baby, it's sweet relief

In the middle of nowhere, baby, it's you and me

Even without rain, baby, it's sweet relief

In the middle of nowhere, baby, it's you and me

Baby it's you and me, baby it's you and me