Roseau
On Big Dada
BIOGRAPHY
Roseau has songwriting in her blood. Born in Colchester in 1985 to a Dominican Father (her nom de guerre is taken from the Caribbean island’s capital) and a Northern Irish mother, her grandfather used to improvise story-songs to Roseau and her sister as toddlers. This was an experience which she recalls as crucial in forming her love of songs, lyrics, and music that tells a story. Her debut album, Salt, is full of stories, drawing the listener in to tales of lov...
Roseau has songwriting in her blood. Born in Colchester in 1985 to a Dominican Father (her nom de guerre is taken from the Caribbean island’s capital) and a Northern Irish mother, her grandfather used to improvise story-songs to Roseau and her sister as toddlers. This was an experience which she recalls as crucial in forming her love of songs, lyrics, and music that tells a story. Her debut album, Salt, is full of stories, drawing the listener in to tales of love – lived, lost or remembered – and fragmentary snapshots of modern life both rubbish and wondrous. Vivid images abound of nights out, road trips, longing and regret – all related via her bold, chiming, futuristic electronic pop.
Roseau began making up her own songs as a child, roping in her sister to sing harmonies. Harmonies have fascinated her as long for as she can remember – a fact that goes some way to explaining her glorious, defamiliarising mastery of the technique on Salt. She began practicing with a basic tape recorder as a child, upgrading to a Zoom MRS-802 digital multitrack when she turned 16. It was this machine’s greater capability for layered vocals that really gave her experiments purpose.
Having abandoned her first guitar shortly after acquiring it as an eight year old, Roseau was inspired by a friend to pick it up again as a teenager. The combination of the instrument and her Zoom allowed her to begin writing demos and playing local gigs, and shortly afterwards she attracted the attention of the manager she still has today, one Kwame Kwaten (Laura Mvula, Shola Ama and formerly of D – Influence). An equally long term working relationship began soon after that, with Will Evans of Tape Club Records. He released her first music, and exposed her to the collective of artists around his label, who would go on to become friends and inspirations.
2008 saw Roseau make an important breakthrough in terms of her working method. A laptop, a copy of Logic, and many YouTube tutorials took her music widescreen, combining a new, electronic sound with the songwriting approach of her folksy, acoustic roots. That firm grounding in songwriting is what sets Roseau apart from the electronic pack: She knows how to write a song, not just make a beat.
Roseau’s startling use of vocals conjures an enveloping beauty and is often layered amongst stunning harmony and bewitching pitch bending soon got noticed. There were some early syncs in the form Greys Anatomy, Adulthood and ‘4,3,2,1’ and she also caught the attraction of up-and-comers Lapalux and DELS, whose albums she’s appeared on. Her collaborative project “Peter & Kerry” was championed by Bonobo (he included ‘One Thing’ on his Late Night Tales album), toured with Lianne La Havas, Lucy Rose and Laura Mvula and also garnered +1 million streams on both YouTube and Spotify. An Adidas Originals advert featuring Roseau modelling followed. Big Dada signed Roseau in 2013.
Salt, like most of her music, was written in the space and quiet of the Essex countryside. Perhaps this explains its enchanting, unusual melding of the intimate and the elemental. So might her musical influences, including artists as diverse as Van Morrison, Soul II Soul, Fleetwood Mac, Grizzly Bear and Tune-Yards - names which go some way to illustrating the calibre of Roseau herself, and her incredible debut album.
Roseau
Albums
Singles
Latest News
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BIOGRAPHY
Roseau has songwriting in her blood. Born in Colchester in 1985 to a Dominican Father (her nom de guerre is taken from the Caribbean island’s capital) and a Northern Irish mother, her grandfather used to improvise story-songs to Roseau and her sister as toddlers. This was an experience which she recalls as crucial in forming her love of songs, lyrics, and music that tells a story. Her debut album, Salt, is full of stories, drawing the listener in to tales of love – lived, lost or...
Roseau has songwriting in her blood. Born in Colchester in 1985 to a Dominican Father (her nom de guerre is taken from the Caribbean island’s capital) and a Northern Irish mother, her grandfather used to improvise story-songs to Roseau and her sister as toddlers. This was an experience which she recalls as crucial in forming her love of songs, lyrics, and music that tells a story. Her debut album, Salt, is full of stories, drawing the listener in to tales of love – lived, lost or remembered – and fragmentary snapshots of modern life both rubbish and wondrous. Vivid images abound of nights out, road trips, longing and regret – all related via her bold, chiming, futuristic electronic pop.
Roseau began making up her own songs as a child, roping in her sister to sing harmonies. Harmonies have fascinated her as long for as she can remember – a fact that goes some way to explaining her glorious, defamiliarising mastery of the technique on Salt. She began practicing with a basic tape recorder as a child, upgrading to a Zoom MRS-802 digital multitrack when she turned 16. It was this machine’s greater capability for layered vocals that really gave her experiments purpose.
Having abandoned her first guitar shortly after acquiring it as an eight year old, Roseau was inspired by a friend to pick it up again as a teenager. The combination of the instrument and her Zoom allowed her to begin writing demos and playing local gigs, and shortly afterwards she attracted the attention of the manager she still has today, one Kwame Kwaten (Laura Mvula, Shola Ama and formerly of D – Influence). An equally long term working relationship began soon after that, with Will Evans of Tape Club Records. He released her first music, and exposed her to the collective of artists around his label, who would go on to become friends and inspirations.
2008 saw Roseau make an important breakthrough in terms of her working method. A laptop, a copy of Logic, and many YouTube tutorials took her music widescreen, combining a new, electronic sound with the songwriting approach of her folksy, acoustic roots. That firm grounding in songwriting is what sets Roseau apart from the electronic pack: She knows how to write a song, not just make a beat.
Roseau’s startling use of vocals conjures an enveloping beauty and is often layered amongst stunning harmony and bewitching pitch bending soon got noticed. There were some early syncs in the form Greys Anatomy, Adulthood and ‘4,3,2,1’ and she also caught the attraction of up-and-comers Lapalux and DELS, whose albums she’s appeared on. Her collaborative project “Peter & Kerry” was championed by Bonobo (he included ‘One Thing’ on his Late Night Tales album), toured with Lianne La Havas, Lucy Rose and Laura Mvula and also garnered +1 million streams on both YouTube and Spotify. An Adidas Originals advert featuring Roseau modelling followed. Big Dada signed Roseau in 2013.
Salt, like most of her music, was written in the space and quiet of the Essex countryside. Perhaps this explains its enchanting, unusual melding of the intimate and the elemental. So might her musical influences, including artists as diverse as Van Morrison, Soul II Soul, Fleetwood Mac, Grizzly Bear and Tune-Yards - names which go some way to illustrating the calibre of Roseau herself, and her incredible debut album.