roon : A Blend of Scars and Healing

Not knowing much about roon, when I heard “Bruised,” it caught my attention. I’d heard earlier singles, but the R&B didn’t stick. She’s been active since 2021 and during that time, she’s released multiple singles and two EPs. What sticks out the most on A Blend of Scars and Healing is the mixture of styles on this third EP.

“The First Nightmare” is an indie pop and R&B starter. It’s relatively minimal, allowing roon to drive the melodies with light instrumentals in the background. “Bruised” sticks out as the single. It’s a comfortable mix of pop and indie rock. It doesn’t sound like roon is having any difficulty vocally here. Mainly, it sounds like an indie rock song mixed through a bedroom indie pop filter.

As the third track, roon is transitioning styles with a pop-forward commercial rock song. It’s a style you’d have heard on OSTs and works perfectly well. Taking another step again, “A Flower Bed” moves even further into pop and ballad. Even though this isn’t my style, I appreciate the polish the song presents.

“You Could Never Be My Sun” moves into R&B and pop. The different style permutations could have been confusing, but roon can create a cohesive narrative through the songs. I think this would have been a good pick for a second single. The pop side sticks out really well. To close A Blend of Scars and Healing, roon uses Latin polyrhythms layered with ballad pop. “Bitter,sweet” is a song that sounds simple but the composition here is dense.

Across six songs, roon swiftly moves through genres and highlights her ability to understand how to match the instrumentals. I wonder what her preferred style is because it’s hard to really connect entirely, because the songs all have a different tone. While I enjoy her indie pop rock work, I don’t think that’s her main style and she should continue experimenting.