Eileen Rose is set to release her fourth album At Our Tables through Evangeline Records on Monday March 10, 2008. Opening a new chapter in her already impressive career, she has now taken her music to Detroit, tracking down the city's deep-rooted musical Soul and making it all her own. Aided by seasoned producers Al Sutton (Sheryl Crow, Kid Rock, Detroit Cobras, Electric Six), and Eric Hoegemeyer (Charm Farm, Kid Rock, Uncle Kracker), plus members of Sponge, Detroit Cobras, and her own Holy Wreck(ing) crew, Eileen has recorded her most accomplished record, yet. A joyous celebration of the accidents of Life, Love, and Human Nature.

Eileen Rose was born in Saugus, a tough suburb of Boston, and brought up in her close-knit Italian-Irish American family, the youngest of five sisters and three brothers.

Dropping her studies in Criminal Law, she moved to England to become a legitimate rock star. It did not take her long to get a solo career under way and she hasn't looked back since.

Both the first album, Shine Like It Does (2000), and the follow up Long Shot Novena(2002) met with ecstatic reviews. UK magazines like MOJO, Uncut, and Time Magazine rated the songwriter as ‘sensational, powerful, genuinely moving’ and ‘mesmeric’. By the time ‘Novena’ hit the stores, Eileen had made up her mind to move back to Boston.

“9/11 put things in perspective for me,'” she says. “My parents weren't getting any younger and I felt like I needed to be spending time with them. I just felt I needed to be home.”

Come the Storm- the homecoming album - saw her moving her away from her Alt Country roots, and exploring new roads into the great wide-open. Intense and emotional, it showed a songwriter growing up in public. Every song a sharp and colourful observation on loss, love and the highs and lows in life. Needless to say, it met with excellent reviews.

The same voice of experience haunts the songs on the new Eileen Rose album At our Tables. This new album shows Eileen at the top of her game, more than ever interacting with the studio musicians in bringing the songs to life. “As a solo artist I play with many different musicians, then gather a group when it comes time to hit the studio. But for At our Tables, my live band - the Holy Wreck - were the core players in the studio. It’s one of the things that makes this album the most well-realized of all my records”.

Another decisive factor influencing the mood of the album was the choice to record it away from her Boston roots, in the tough, industrial metropole of Detroit. A place which combines the musical heritage of classic Motown soul with the brutal, in your face honesty of of Rock revolutionaries like the MC5 and the White Stripes. Involving local top producers Al Sutton and Eric Hoegemeyer proved to be a stroke of genius. “Eric is not only a stunning engineer and inspired producer, he is also a fine multi-instrumentalist and programmer. So, he added lots of layers, colours, rhythmic complexities and programmed sounds which brought the basic songs to a new, deeper level. At the same time, we had the expertise of Al Sutton, who’s got a great, aggressive mixing style that may well result in my first radio hit ever. They helped to make this a very rich, haunting record which you can also sing along to.”

Having an open door policy at the Rustbelt Studios, resulted in a host of resident top musicians ending up fueling the recordings with their trademark Motorcity style. “I got schooled on the notion of ‘the Detroit Pocket’ by some of the guys who played with us. They play with the heart. Relaxed, but at the same time hitting it hard - really throwing themselves into it without being asked. There is no room for politeness. These folks NEED their music. I definitely heard something different there than I do in Boston. It humbled me, really.” A key role was taken on by the expert performance by drummer Vinnie Dumbrowski. A singer and frontman in his own right, his almost psychic interplay with Eileen’s voice and rhythm guitar brought out the best in every song, pushing the singer to performances well above and beyond anything she has done before. “I learned a lot about my voice and now feel it’s a beast I’ve finally slain. Having this kind of support, I could not help but do the best singing that I’ve ever done.”

It is fitting that Eileen eventually stumbled upon the album title in Michigan, when picking up a book that was lying on the table at the house she was staying in. The book (“For One More Day”, by Detroit author Mitch Albom), had an opening quote which read: “The Dead sit at our tables long after they have gone.” It resonated with her, coming from a close-knit family where everyone’s getting older and facing progressively more losses. “Our circle of folks sitting around the kitchen table drinking and making fun of each other is getting smaller. But still, it feels like everyone is still there. In many ways for better or for worse.”

“These songs are full of conversations, pleas, compliments, explanations, rebukes, white flags, inside jokes, thank-you’s, last words, and apologies to both the living and the dead.” 

At our Tables is an album about People. Living and dead. Real and fictional. Sad and joyful. Loud and quiet. Angry and thankful. It’s an album about you and me. And a companion for life that will always be welcome.