Culture
Esther Rose – 2025 Nelsonville Music Festival Sycamore Sessions
By: Emily Votaw
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NELSONVILLE, Ohio (WOUB) – Esther Rose delivers five songs from Want, her latest full-length album, in a Sycamore Session recorded just over a month after the record’s release at the 2025 Nelsonville Music Festival on Saturday, June 21, at the Snow Fork Event Center.
Want earned wide critical praise for its confessional, unflinching lyricism and its expanded sonic palette. Rose pushes her songwriting into bolder territory, blending tightly coiled, rock-leaning folk with gnarly, swirling, shoegaze-inspired guitar textures. The result widens her sound more than ever before, balancing the emotional power of honest self-examination with melodic arrangements that land louder, sharper, and more controlled than any in her catalog to date.
Throughout her Sycamore Session, Rose vividly demonstrates why these new songs have resonated so strongly with listeners and critics alike. In this stripped-back, live setting, her voice and vision stay unmistakable — turning personal upheaval into shared recognition and joyful release.
Setlist
0:14 – Had To
4:30 – Ketamine
8:15 – Rescue You
17:18 – Clown
16:27 – Want Pt. 2
Director – Anna Aldis
Technical Director – Matt Quinn
Editors – Dante Mancini and Matt Quinn
Camera Operators
Zach Baic
Braden Boothe
Parker Phillips
Wes Pai
Gigi Twatchtman
Audio Production Team
Noelle Baker
Martin Bradesca
Joseph Turiano
Artist Relations Team
Luka Martin
Jillian Schatzley
Mia Voice
The Sycamore Sessions are presented by the Nelsonville Music Festival in collaboration with WOUB Public Media and the Ohio University Scripps College of Communication’s School of Media Arts and Studies. The videos are created by Media Arts and Studies students under the guidance of Producer and Host Josh Antonuccio, Audio Supervisor Adam Rich, WOUB Arts and Culture Editor Emily Votaw, and Director of Photography Andie Walla. All performances were filmed during the 2025 Nelsonville Music Festival, a production of Stuart’s Opera House.