Rosie Carney on Ireland: "I'd so much rather be here. This is just a haven for me"

Despite the dreariness of the northern winter, Rosie Carney delights in her recent move back to Donegal: "I'm in the middle of nowhere, baby!"

The English-born, Irish-raised singer-songwriter is firm that her move from London has been for the best. It was, after all, the Donegal landscapes of her childhood that inspired her third LP Doomsday... Don't Leave Me Here, which released February 27, 2026 via cool0nline.

The new album sees Carney departing from the quieter folk and rock roots of her earlier work and delving into an apocalyptic-yet-lush fantasy world. Formerly signed to Universal Polydor, the now-indie artist is reveling in her newfound artistic freedom and her return to Ireland.

"I needed this," Carney says of her time in Donegal. "It's the solitude I was yearning for when I was in London... That solitary, evocative beauty is so important to me."

If you've watched any of Carney's recent music videos or visualisers (all directed by Carney's friend Cal McIntyre), you can see the natural Irish inspiration shine through. Rolling green expanses, pebble beaches, hillside cottages – it seems Carney found her way back home right in time for the album's release.

"I've always struggled visually to express myself," Carney says. "A lot of that around this album came from collaborating with Cal... He helped me use the tools within myself to help me express a world that's always been there, that's always been dark and cryptic and, at times, quite horrific." She laughs.

The music video for single 'Here' taps into the horror genre, as it depicts Carney bloodily bludgeoning a former lover – who happens to be an axeman. "That was a huge leap of faith for me. I told Cal what I wanted, and I wanted to be shocking."

And shocking it is: picture a blood-splattered Carney posed amidst the green-and-grey landscapes of the north.

"That's what inspired me to make music in the first place," Carney says of Ireland's natural beauty. "So it's all just a reflection of my environment... I'd so much rather be here. This is just a haven for me."

Carney refers to fellow Donegal singer Enya as an inspiration for the album.

"I've been listening to so much Enya recently, especially since moving home," Carney says. "She went to my school when she was young. She got expelled, and I dropped out of the same school, so there's a parasocial relationship there she's not aware of!"

Further inspiration came from '80s and '90s dream-pop, specifically 'Cherry-Coloured Funk' by Cocteau Twins, which longtime producer Ed Thomas (FKA Twigs, Cat Burns) introduced her to.

"Ed put it on for me during our first ever session together, almost 10 years ago," Carney says. "It rocked my world. I think I listened to that specific song 10 times in a row after that session."

"Listening to Liz Fraser, I got really experimental with my voice and started using it as more of an instrument," she continues. "That had such an influence on the vocal textures of this record."

And not just the vocal textures, but the sonic expanses, too. "I've always wanted to make that sonic pivot into a bigger world with my production."

That experimental alternative sound is audible throughout Doomsday, especially on 'Down', Carney's self-professed favourite song on the album. The song features self-deprecating lyrics ("I'm only gonna bring you down") over a shimmering, layered soundscape.

"That song just kind of fell out of me," Carney says. "I remember we'd started mapping out the musical layout of the song. As soon as we did that, I disappeared into the live room for about 20 minutes... It was a bit of a suckerpunch to write."

"There's something about allowing myself to be that brutally honest with expressing that feeling," Carney continued. "It gave me a lot of quiet confidence, like, yeah, you know what, I'm gonna say exactly how I feel, I'm not gonna sugarcoat it."

'Down' wasn't the only song that came easily to Carney.

"A lot of the songs in their own right were there, ready to come out. It was just a matter of tapping in, finding it, and allowing it to flow."

That flow was aided by Thomas and new friend Ross MacDonald (The 1975), who co-produced the album. But Carney wasn't always sure about their collaboration.

"Me and Ed had such a good thing going,” Carney says. “I was quite sceptical about bringing another creative energy into that, because it could either make or break it. Luckily, Ross is amazing and all three of us connected so creatively. He was like the missing piece of the puzzle… Really, two of my most favourite people to work with and be around.”

The album was recorded at Thomas's North London studio, a "little tiny one room studio in Haringey."

"There was something really special about that space,” Carney says. “I felt so inspired by it. I don't know what it was. I guess it was just working with Ed and Ross. The environment that we made was really special.”

For Carney, it’s important to have agency in the studio. After her old label "forced" her to do "so many sessions with so many producers", she now cherishes her freedom to be choosy.

"I feel more in control," she says. "Coming out of a major deal where I didn't have creative control and I was told what to be, who to be, and how to be... I'm lucky in the situation that I'm in."

To Carney, making the record with MacDonald and Thomas felt like "playtime, you know? It was like being able to explore these new sounds and get into the production side of things and just have fun."

Even so, the recording process wasn't always smooth sailing.

"It's been a long process making it and waiting for it to come out. I've been sitting on this record for two or three years now."

And, before that, the foundations of the record were born with Thomas as early as 2018.

"Songs like 'Here' and 'In My Blue' got put on the back burner, and I stewed on them for a very long time," she notes. "But when I reopened them with Ross in the picture, it just clicked. Ross was touring while we made the record, and we could only really do a week every six months, so making it was a really long process. I think when an artist makes a sonic pivot like this, you have to really take your time with it, and you have to be so sure of what it is you're putting out, and that it represents you."

The album’s sound, lyrics, and title resonate more than ever with present-day Carney.

"Especially with the state of the world today, it's so apt," she says of Doomsday. "It's actually insane. It feels like the world is burning, so what a great album name. It's almost like I was telling the future – not to sound so woo-woo."

Speaking of the future, how about a future tour? Though Carney doesn't have any live shows on the horizon, she's "chomping at the bit to get out there and perform these songs."

"I want to tour so bad, it's just money. It's so unsustainable for artists at the moment in the current economy. I don't even know how established artists do it. There's no tour support."

She muses about potential headline dates in Ireland, but only time will tell.

"I've been doing this for such a long time – I was literally a child when this started," says Carney. "The most important thing I've learned over the years is to take my time and do what feels right for me, and make the music that made me want to start making music in the first place. That's where the real authenticity lies."

Doomsday...Don't Leave Me Here is out now.