Dublin twins Ro and Lulu – performing under pop moniker ROOUE – have about the most extensive shared songwriting background you could hope to have. Performing together since toddlerhood, they’re public emergence nonetheless comes off the back of a substantial musical education.
Theirs is pop with a twist: a kind of subtly evocative exploration that deals in deeply personal feelings amongst upbeat vibes, creating a gorgeously melancholy contrast. It’s now presented from London, but ROOUE have their Dublin roots in their heart.
“We started singing and dancing together as soon as we could walk,” they recall. “Music is a massive part of our family. When we turned around eight, Ro got a guitar, and this gave us the opportunity to play and sing with a guitar together”
“This continued into our teens when we began busking and using it to make money. When we went to college in BIMM, music became more career driven and we really found passion in making music together and harmonising. Once we had found our own voices individually, we decided to start ROOUE. We realised we were stronger together and loved making music in our band.”
“We are just so glad that other people also like to listen to what we make. Every career win is a bonus to us as we love the journey and the opportunity to work together everyday. We are surprised everyday at the love and support we have received. It’s crazy that the music we make at home reaches different people we have never met before, such a cool feeling.”
The new EP from the pair is entitled ‘Juxtaposition’, and explores a difficult time for the duo.
“The title ‘Juxtaposition’ stands for how the path to recovery is never a straight line. We wrote this EP during a really hard year filled with loss, heartbreak and self discovery. Everyday we woke up dealing with a different emotion whether it was anger, sexual empowerment or self consciousness. Ironically this was a juxtaposition in itself. We also feel that the title ‘Juxtaposition’ really describes us well, same but different. As twins we love having similarities, but also are so different. We are a yin yang of each other, so we couldn’t think of a better way to title this body of work.”
“We wanted each song on this EP to represent an emotion or headspace we felt when going through this year. The EP ends on the track ‘Slán’ meaning goodbye in Irish. This song represents the decision we made to start a new adventure away from friends, family and our home in Ireland. Ending the EP with this track was so important to us as it really felt like a closing chapter and a representation of the new stages in our lives.”
“Ireland represents so much happiness and warmth, but also held a lot of pain and struggling, so that was a perfect song to end Juxtaposition with. We filled the track with voice notes and audio of people we have lost this year. We can’t listen to the track without tears as it sums up every emotion we have felt when writing this EP. It’s a happy, sad goodbye.”
“It’s always intimidating releasing music with a personal and vulnerable subject matter but somehow it feels like such a release,” they continue.
“It’s scary as hell, we won’t lie, and it is never easy, but once we put the words to the song and release it feels like closure. It is all worth it; honesty makes for really powerful songs.”