On new album ‘Free WiFi in the Vatican,’ Slow Rosary reflects on the church in its beauty and brutality – NOLA.com

Theres a lot south Louisianans who grew up in the church will understand about Slow Rosarys Free WiFi in the Vatican.

The album has the trappings of a Catholic worship record theres the hymn Lord, When You Came to the Seashore and a track based around Matthew 13:44-55 (complete with red lettering on the albums lyrics page). But listeners will immediately realize this isnt a religious work: Free WiFi in the Vatican is secular, complex and contradictory. It grapples with Catholicism in its beauty and brutality.

Putting it very simply, its an expression of all of my thoughts about the faith and my relationship with it, says Rene Duplantier, the singer-songwriter at the core of Slow Rosary. That includes a song where I criticize Christian presidents and it includes criticizing the Pope, but it also includes a licensed cover of a church song.

Duplantier was born in New Orleans and grew up in a Catholic family confirmed as Saint Francis Xavier, since unconfirmed, still curious, reads the about page on the Slow Rosary website. As he reached his 20s, Duplantier found himself in a long process of leaving Catholicism, he says.

It wasnt some contentious process or anything, it was mostly that I realized that I didnt believe a lot of the things they believed, he adds.

Duplantier went to college in Arizona, and when he moved back to New Orleans, he began playing a monthly show at the Neutral Ground Coffee House. His past songwriting had been more influenced by alt and indie rock musicians like Alex G and Tigers Jaw, but around that time mixed in with the religious decoupling as well he found he was writing more folk-esque songs. He decided to call the project for those tunes Slow Rosary.

Free WiFi in the Vatican, which is out Friday, is the second Slow Rosary full-length, following up Refinery, released last August, mere days before Hurricane Ida hit. Duplantier wrote the songs on the two albums over the last four years, and they work together in a way.

I think of Refinery as kind of the narrative, the what happened, and then Free WiFi is the thought process of the main character. Its more fluid, Duplantier says.

Refinery more explicitly touches on the events of my childhood, young adulthood, a few breakups, a few moves, trips, Duplantier adds later in the conversation. Whereas this record is never things I would have said out loud. Refinery is quite literally what was happening for three or four years, whereas Free WiFi is just what I was thinking about.

Freeman tapped more than 20 friends for the new record.

The songs on Free WiFi are lush and captivating, with a bed of sounds lifting up Duplantiers folk-like lyricism. The albums lo-fi, home-recorded quality gives it the impression of stepping into a small, pretty church during the music portion of Sunday service as the band plays songs about so-called Christian presidents calling for waterboarding.

Duplantier who sings and plays guitar, bass, piano and keys on Free WiFi is at the center of Slow Rosary, and he often collaborates with drummer Blake Robicheaux along with a rotating cast of musicians. The album includes musicians Kate Gauthreaux, Zach Lannes and Dreux Gerard LeBourgeois, and Nick Rosato II also plays with the band live.

On the Bandcamp page, I tagged it as both Christian and Atheist, Duplantier says with a laugh. A lot of people who arent religious make music with religious imagery. Especially in New Orleans, for locals anyway, a lot of people grew up with [the church]. Everyone can have some easy connection to it.

More about Slow Rosary and Free WiFi in the Vatican can be found at slowrosary.com.

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On new album 'Free WiFi in the Vatican,' Slow Rosary reflects on the church in its beauty and brutality - NOLA.com