Swiss shoegaze / indie rockers Alice Roosevelt and the rebel cry of "Rhubarb & Strawberries"

Photo: Douglas Mandry

The curiously titled Rhubarb & Strawberries by Swiss shoegaze / indie rockers Alice Roosevelt and from their 2019 "Hammam" album is a sad, jagged post punk rocker that moves on dramatic musical downbeats, anxious synth lines, post rock guitar lines, divergent drum beats and strident, passionate vox that talk, shout and sing out in forlorn wails. The atmosphere burns throughout while backing vocals feel almost like a Church spiritual, "here now... here now" as a chant of sorts propelling the song to ascend even higher as the lead vox  commands, "a gathering of voices, a gathering of voices" breaking walls down.

-Robb Donker Curtius

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Quelque part entre la brume londonienne et la clarté aveuglante des atmosphères maliennes, entre le spleen nocturne des villes et les cieux sans limite des déserts, Alice Roosevelt trace sa propre route. Le groupe nyonnais a trouvé sa source quand celle de Josef Of The Fountain s’est tarie. Seule demeure une voix profonde, qui traverse le béton sale des banlieues tristes et prend son essor, portée par un groupe qui gère les alternances avec brio : tension-relâchement, transe-décharge, mercure-éther... Alice Roosevelt, c'est du shoegaze ancré et aérien, qui plante son regard vers l’horizon, là où tout se confond et s'évanouit...

http://alicerooseveltband.tumblr.com
http://mx3.ch/artist/aliceroosevelt
http://aliceroosevelt.bandcamp.com

Somewhere between the London mist and the blinding clarity of the Malian atmospheres, between the night spleen of the cities and the limitless skies of the deserts, Alice Roosevelt traces her own path. The Nyonnais group found its source when that of Josef Of The Fountain dried up. Only a deep voice remains, which crosses the dirty concrete of the sad suburbs and takes off, carried by a group which manages the alternations with brilliance: tension-relaxation, trance-discharge, mercury-ether ... Alice Roosevelt, it's anchored and ethereal shoegaze, which looks towards the horizon, where everything merges and vanishes ...