"I'm a coder, artist, producer that wants to love you with my sound."
Recently I got to sit down with the LA based artist Roo, who just published their first single "GLO". The feeling I got from this budding artist was that creatively, her motives were backed by the exploration of music, and bringing love to her audience. We talked extensively about what fueled this new single, and what motivates her as an artist.
While meeting with Roo was a friendly experience, the meeting was offset by the heavier, more dower tones of the single - leading me to my first question:
J: What inspires the darker themes behind "GLO"?
Roo: "I would say my personality is upbeat, positive, and bubbly; and then the things I like artistically seem very contrasting with that but I actually see them as one in the same." She goes on to explain: "I embrace the dark things. I think you can paint a masterpiece of suffering with your experience. Sadness is beautiful, and exhilarating. Fear is so Primal and Animalistic''..."And that's a part of why I am such a positive, happy person. I embrace those things about my reality."
In part Roo chooses to make her art as a form of therapy for her listeners. Saying she wants to "Love you with [her] sound" by letting you confront the aspects of our lives that we, at times, choose to ignore. In this way, Roo's single is a process of healing.
J: Who are some of your inspirations, both musically and culturally?
Roo: "She [SOPHIE] is like the figure-head of that movement of abstracting completely from real [non computer generated] instruments."
Other influences include Grimes, Billie Eilish, FKA Twigs, and Sevdaliza.
Musicians that all also have a knack of bending the genres their work lives in.
J: Having a background in STEM, did you find it easier to move into a digital Genre?
"It did help me understand some of the concepts, like signal routing. Plus it's all software-based nowadays - right in my comfort zone.."
Armed with a degree in computer science, Roo has the added capacity for production. "GLO'' displays this wonderfully - showcasing how she utilizes comfort with technology as a means for creativity. As easily as a dancer uses their body to perform their art, so can Roo traverse an almost aethereal plane to bring to us the dreamlike sound that her new single offers.
She goes on to mention that, along with this tech-based production style, because of her background in coding, she's used to learning things by herself and felt well suited for this style of expression.
"I'm fascinated by all the things technology now allows us to do with sound that we couldn't do before with analogue systems... I want to take that to its fullest extent."
Roo aims to be on the forefront of music production; surpassing the limitations of traditional, physical instruments, she steps outside of the old boundaries in order to push music her music off of the deep-end. Her natural ability to traverse through this ever expansive medium gives her opportunities to assemble some of the most cutting edge, atmospheric sound I've heard on a track like this. This coupled with her highly cerebral lyrics and musical goals, Roo is an artist on the come up that you will not want to miss out on.
Roo's first single "GLO" dropped August 16th and can be found on all major streaming platforms. Roo can be found on Instagram: @whois.roo and on Twitter: @Whois_roo
we urge you to stream GLO as soon as you can!
Who knows, you may find yourself listening to your new favorite artist.
