Folk duo Roger Roger to release debut album in January
HANNAH GEHMAN, CONTRIBUTOR
Madeleine and Lucas Roger of Roger Roger harmonize. THE PROJECTOR/Hannah
Gehman
Madeleine and Lucas Roger only started playing music together a year and a half ago, but the 24-year-old duo, who also happen to be twins, are already releasing their debut folk/roots album, “Fairweather.”
Their Facebook page describes them as if “Kathleen Edwards and Tom Petty together went acoustic.”
“They sound a bit like Ed Sheeran,” said Tamara Symynyshen, 19, an Early Child Education student at Red River College. “I like them.”
The sibling singer-songwriters’ music is influenced by each of their musical preferences. “I listen to a lot more folk music than Luke,” said Madeleine. Lucas listens to folk music too, but he says rock and roll hits home for him the most. He used to front a local rock group called Modern Man.
“Our influences have really both come into play on the album,” said Madeleine. “So there’s a pretty nice mix of rock-inspired and then more folk-oriented.”
The twins said that while fine-tuning and performing the songs is a collaborative effort, writing them is not.
Madeleine and Lucas Roger, the twin singer-songwriters who make up the band Roger Roger, sing to each other in their kitchen THE PROJECTOR/Hannah Gehman
“I try to hide as far away from human beings as possible when I write songs,” said Lucas, while Madeleine says she finds inspiration in “strange moments”.
Even though they write independently, they still give each other input. “We bring out songs to each other and see how the other person can fit in,” said Madeleine.
Madeleine designed and drew the album art. The “awesome and eerie crow,” as she called it, was taken from a song on the album, “Thirteen Crows.”
“The album has a bit of both of us,” said Madeleine. “The title of the album is one of Lucas’s songs and the artwork from the album is from one of my songs.”
Even though producing the album has been taking up most of their time, whether it be through recording, promoting their now successfully completed Kickstarter campaign, or choosing an album title, the twins have still found time to do what they love best: writing songs.
“In the last two weeks I’ve written three songs,” said Madeleine. “And Lucas has written…”
”Two or three,” said Lucas, finishing her sentence.
Roger Roger will be performing at the West End Cultural Centre on January 17 to celebrate the release of “Fairweather.” Tickets are available now on their website: rogerrogermusic.com.
This is a corrected story. A previous version had the wrong album release date.
