THE SOUNDS OF DOWNS
Sussex Life|September 2020
Rose Elinor Dougall was a founding member of girl band The Pipettes before going solo and working with superproducer Mark Ronson. So how did lockdown in Lewes inspire her creativity?
Jeremy Blackmore
THE SOUNDS OF DOWNS

Singer-songwriter Rose Elinor Dougall finds herself inescapably drawn to the county where she grew up and took her formative steps into music. She cannot help but be inspired by the dramatic landscapes of Sussex, choosing the beauty and grandeur of Cuckmere Haven and Seven Sisters as locations for the photoshoot for her recent album A New Illusion.

Rose has spent the past 15 years touring the world, first with Brighton girl group The Pipettes and latterly as a solo artist and with superstar producer Mark Ronson. Although she is now based in London, she retreats to the Sussex countryside every few weeks. Lockdown was spent at her mother’s house in the countryside outside Lewes. It was a real antidote at a troubling time, but it is a journey she makes on a regular basis.

“Every few weeks I need to get out of London, come down and be among those different landscapes. I feel that’s where I belong. I feel very, very attached to the landscapes of Sussex. I’ve been going to the Ashdown Forest all my life. That’s a really important place for me. It’s a very different kind of landscape to the South Downs which I also spend a lot of time walking around.”

Rose moved to Brighton with her parents and brother Tom – guitarist in the band Toy – when she was 13. It was a period of musical discovery. She devoured her musician father Alastair’s large record collection, which included plenty of Sixties folk albums, while her mother was also a huge music fan. “I was never going to get away from it!” she laughs.

Esta historia es de la edición September 2020 de Sussex Life.

Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.

Esta historia es de la edición September 2020 de Sussex Life.

Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.

MÁS HISTORIAS DE SUSSEX LIFEVer todo
TAKE YOUR TIME
Sussex Life

TAKE YOUR TIME

Dean Edwards’ new cookbook features delectable recipes that you can slow cook or stick in the oven. Here’s a selection of the best

time-read
7 minutos  |
November 2020
Decorative art
Sussex Life

Decorative art

Not simply functional, treat your walls like an extension of your personality

time-read
3 minutos  |
November 2020
ON THE FRONT FOOT
Sussex Life

ON THE FRONT FOOT

The rugby legend took the reins at Sussex County Cricket Club in 2017, rekindling his love for a sport that first won his heart on the village cricket fields of North Yorkshire

time-read
8 minutos  |
November 2020
NAKED AMBITION
Sussex Life

NAKED AMBITION

In the 1980s, Christine and Jennifer Binnie partied with Boy George and Marilyn and bared all as performance art collective The Neo-Naturists. Now they are working together to gain the recognition they feel they deserve

time-read
5 minutos  |
November 2020
ROCKET MAN
Sussex Life

ROCKET MAN

Astronaut Tim Peake has come a long way since growing up in Westbourne and attending Chichester High School for Boys: 248 miles above Earth, to be precise. But, he says, life on the International Space Station has a lot in common with family caravanning holidays

time-read
6 minutos  |
November 2020
Revolution man
Sussex Life

Revolution man

Lewes’ most famous resident Thomas Paine may be the greatest propagandist who ever lived. But how did a humble customs and excise officer ignite the touchpaper for revolution in not one but two countries?

time-read
8 minutos  |
November 2020
THE DIARY
Sussex Life

THE DIARY

17 exciting things to do this month in East and West Sussex

time-read
8 minutos  |
November 2020
All in a day's work
Sussex Life

All in a day's work

Meet Tim Dummer, who has helped keep Midhurst’s Cowdray Estate shipshape for an impressive five decades

time-read
3 minutos  |
November 2020
My favourite Sussex
Sussex Life

My favourite Sussex

Bruce Fogle is an author and a vet with a practice in London who has lived in West Sussex with his wife, the actress Julia Foster, since 1989. He recently became president of RSPCA Mount Noddy near Chichester

time-read
2 minutos  |
November 2020
10 OF THE BEST Meat-free restaurants in Brighton and Hove
Sussex Life

10 OF THE BEST Meat-free restaurants in Brighton and Hove

Brighton is often rated one of the most vegan-friendly cities in the UK. What these restaurants prove is that plant-based food doesn’t have to be puritanical – at all of these places you’ll find big flavours and a desire to push the envelope

time-read
4 minutos  |
November 2020