With music somewhere between the soundtracks of Quentin Tarantino, David Lynch and Atom Egoyan, somewhat melancholic indie rock duo The Roogs will be releasing their self-titled debut album this month – We have the pleasure of premiering this music for you today – songs of varied tempo, floating mood and convincing atmosphere. The Roogs’ debut offering is a welcome discovery against a vast bed of releases that never manage to hone that unique something inside or spark something notable in the listener.This one is for lovers of Washed Out, Dif Juz, Massive Attack, DJ Shadow, Portishead and Mazzy Star. It’s hard to pick a favourite track, but the most obvious (to me) nominees are ‘I Still See You’, ‘Approaching Storm’, ‘It’s Own Good’ and ‘Wildebeest’.
The Roogs are Courtney Davies and Steve Gerdes. Together, they represent one-half of the seminal goth / tribal / industrial band Fourwaycross, who were active from 1984 to 1991 and again from 2015 to 2018. Fourwaycross released four albums, five EPs and one compilation album, as well as touring the USA three times.
Today, as The Roogs, Steve and Courtney are more focused on a wider range of sounds, reflecting their many influences, past and present. They recorded, mixed and mastered this album in their own studio, Hilda Labs.
“Our songs happen organically – we set out in new directions for each one, leaving behind any ideas on what they are meant to become. This album marks a major shift for us as a couple, who’ve worked together and individually with other bands through the years. We became excited about forging our own sound, being inspired by our many influences past and present, with no restrictions, rules or agenda,” says Steve Gerdes.
“This group of songs dives into our ever-changing perspectives on experiences we share moving through life. Working with unconventional musical combinations; flute and distorted guitar, aggressive bass and ethereal vocals, drum machine and ebow. We like to work with the structural and the gestural to create music that is honest and emotional. Soundtracks are a source of inspiration for us, we like working with texture and sound design.”
Massive Attack, Unkle, The The, Everything but the Girl, Sneaker Pimps, Roxy Music and Washed Out are among the artists shaping The Roogs’ current sound, in addition to Gnarls Barkley, Throbbing Gristle, Tuxedomoon, The Sleepers, Echo and the Bunnymen, Kraftwerk, DJ Shadow, Nine Inch Nails and Radiohead.
“The songwriting process usually starts with rough, minimal sketches written in Ableton Live that are “jammed” live with Steve playing bass or guitar, and me singing or playing guitar, ebow guitar, flute or keyboards. Once we decide a song or piece is viable we start to record the final version in Logic Pro X, which we use for recording, mixing and mastering,” says Courtney Davies.
“We have an extensive amount of outboard gear (synths, samplers, drum machines, etc.) but we rely on mostly plug-ins for compression, limiting and EQ. We are huge fans of anything made by Elektron, Sequential Circuits and Arturia, and love the plugins that come with Logic as well as iZotope, Reason and Line 6.”
As of September 25, ‘The Roogs’ debut album will be available everywhere, including on Apple Music and Spotify, and also as a special Bandcamp edition that includes an eighth track – ‘Forty Versions’, available at https://theroogs.bandcamp.com/album/the-roogs
