Rokurokubi

Rokurokubi is the brainchild of songwriter and singer Rose Io. The group formed in Brighton (UK) in 2017, with guitarist Edmund Lloyd-Winder and regular collaborators Nina Gunther and Daisy Rickman, playing a unique blend of Acid-Folk and Psychedelic-Rock. Rose’s unique songs setting them apart from their contemporaries, their music has been compared to early Kate Bush, alongside comparisons to 60s groups Pentangle and Trees.
Their debut album ‘Saturn In Pisces’ was released in 2019 on Time Spun Records, and produced by Wyndham Earl, who also produced their follow up “Iris, Flower of Violence” in 2021.
Whilst the stark beauty of Rose Io’s voice takes centre stage, she also plays drums, piano, guitar and harp, accompanied by a group of multi-instrumentalists.
Edmund Lloyd-Winder provides an epic range of guitar tones, from delicate finger-picking to distorted Hendrix-like wailings and dreamy synth-like textures.
The pair’s songs are embellished by Nina Gunther on cello and flute, Daisy Rickman on double bass guitar and drums, and Wyndham Earl contributing percussion, synths, guitar and bass.
Rose’s lyrics, which have been described as “Sylvia Plath on acid”, weave imaginative, introspective stories full of macabre-fairy-tale imagery with lush instrumentation, creating a heady psychedelic tapestry of guitars, flutes, sitars, cello, pianos, drums and percussion. At times tender and fragile, at times exploding with distorted guitars and heavy drums, punctuated with flute trills and string melodies.