Roosevelt

Place has long been an influence on the music an artist makes; whether it’s the psychogeography that inspires a folk musician like Scotsman Alasdair Roberts as much as it inspires Liverpool’s electronic music maestro Forest Swords, or scenes in places such as Detroit, Chicago or New York there’s little doubt that “location, location, location” applies to music as much as it does to property.

And it was the move from the small town of Viersen in the far west of Germany, near the border with the Netherlands and Belgium, to the city of Cologne – with its burgeoning dance music scene – that inspired Marius Lauber to make music as Roosevelt. Before moving to Cologne, young Lauber played in indie bands until a visit to the nightclubs of the western German city inspired him to make the music we now hear from him. Although, it’s not a dance/techno sound we get from Roosevelt; this is electronic pop you can file alongside Caribou and Toro Y Moi, an interpretation of dance music more akin to New Order than to four-to-the-floor beats, and with a melodic heart that makes you think that chillwave was more than some Pitchfork stage-managed confection, and might have a future as a genre.

Signed to Greco-Roman, Lauber released his sweetly addictive and slightly introspective Elliot EP at the end of December, and Best Fit caught up with him for a chat ahead of his final shows of 2013.

Can you take us back to the start? How did you first begin with music?

I had piano lessons when I was about 7 or 8 years old, and I had them for a few years so that was my first contact with music – then I stopped for a bit! I started playing guitar first when I was fifteen, and then drums, and then I played in different bands at school with different combinations of friends…but it was all more guitar based.

When did the interest in electronic music reveal itself?

It was only when I left my home town and moved to Cologne that I got interested in dance music; somehow I just tried to produce a track of my own and it all developed like that! I bought my first production gear just to try it out…and I dunno, I thought it was really fun and I did a few tracks and it somehow developed into Roosevelt.

Growing up in a small town or village must have limited the music you had access to, so were the bands you were in reflective of the music you heard around you?

Yeah, the bands I played in before I moved…we weren’t really in contact with music from Cologne so we were mostly indie bands. We listened a lot to The Strokes.

So the electronic influence didn’t come until you moved away?

The interest in electronic music started when I went to clubs and met people in this scene. It wasn’t so much that I discovered it through clubs, but more that I realised some of the magic in going to clubs!

Was it the genre of music that most attracted you?

I was never really into minimal techno; that was never my thing. But even dance music, which is quite monotone sometimes, can work in a club in a way that you never would have imagined when you’ve played it on a small stereo. Listening to the music in the clubs, and experiencing it physically was definitely an influence, and I realised how it works, the magic of it.

You also DJ as well as make electronic music as Roosevelt, is that correct?

Yeah that’s kind of how it started for me in electronic music! I was still in an indie rock band, and started DJing at the same time – just club music, house/techno stuff. For me it was completely another world; a few clubs in Cologne gave me a chance to DJ. I was really bad; I was really not very good at all! But they let me into the DJ booth and I got to do what I wanted.

Is DJing to a crowd something that you enjoy?

It was always fun, but it’s not the most creative process, I’ve always thought that. For me, it’s big fun still but it’s just playing tracks I like on a really good PA. Having said that, it can be an inspiration sometimes for creating your own tracks…sometimes you play something and you think “oh I could try and get that feeling on my own track” but DJing isn’t the main thing for me, it’s just a fun part of what I do.

So when it comes to writing the music of Roosevelt, where does it all start?

There’s not really a proper way to how I do it; each track has a story behind it. I kind of try to sit down and do a bass line, or do it how you should do it but somehow the tracks I’ve released so far have more of a messed-up story. The most normal way I do it would be to start with the vocal melody, but I find it hard to do that for every track. I sit with a bass guitar normally, so I write a lot with that.

Is it more an analogue-based process, or does everything begin on digital equipment?

I have a lot of equipment in my studio; for producing it’s all analogue but for writing I try not to be too focused on the sounds at first as that distracts me a lot. Sometime for me it’s better to sit at a desk with a laptop and a midi keyboard or something like that. I try to focus on the harmonies and the idea of the track, and then later go to the instrument. But then sometimes an instrument can inspire you…

When people write about your music, two names that are often mentioned are Caribou and Toro Y Moi – are they influences on Roosevelt? Who else inspires you?

Yeah, I mean those two are probably in it! I’m really into their sound; but I can’t really tell…I’m not aware of my influences but bands I’ve always loved are LCD Soundsystem - that’s the big one for me - Talking Heads…I mean, their approach to a pop song is something that I really like, the singing of Arthur Russell…

Can we expect an album from Roosevelt in 2014?

Yeah I’m working on it right now; there have been so many gigs this last year…I played about ninety live shows so there’s not been much time to write, and I’ve changed my band a few times. So there’s been a lot of work just to set up the live show and I was more than happy that I could finish the EP in that time! I’ve got no more gigs until March so I can sit down and think about the album. Gigs are amazing, but kind of annoying when you want to start an album!

“Montreal” and the Elliot EP are out now on Greco-Roman.