Start Listening To: Roomer

The Berlin trio discuss recording Staircase Made of Rope, finding lyrics in dreams and the joys of playing together, despite all the admin.

Roomer like playing very loud and very soft at the same time. The Berlin trio of Ludwig, Luka and Ronja write on sometimes strangely tuned guitars, sharing an appetite for distortion and dreaminess that carries into Staircase Made of Rope. Following their debut, Leaving It All to Chance, the band approached this record as a newly reduced three-piece, bringing existing songs into the studio alongside ideas that took shape through improvisation. Recorded over two sessions, it found them working with the possibilities of each setting, from the equipment in Squama’s Munich studio to the couch in Luka’s parents’ living room.

Dreams found their way into both the lyrics and the album’s title, an image whose meaning the band are happy to leave unresolved. That openness runs through their account of making music together: songs tend to suggest their own direction, with the three friends describing themselves as ‘caretakers’ who make sure nothing gets lost along the way. There’s also the simple pleasure of being in a band, something they’ve returned to after years of exploring other musical worlds. The admin, they could do without.

For those unfamiliar with your music, can you tell us who you are, where you’re from and about the music you make?

We’re Roomer, a three-piece from Berlin. Ludwig plays drums, Luka plays baritone guitar, and Ronja’s doing vocals and guitar. We write songs on sometimes strangely tuned guitars. We enjoy playing very loud and very soft at the same time, are drawn to distortion and dreaminess alike…

Your debut Leaving It All to Chance was built around songs you’d already spent a long time playing, while Staircase Made of Rope was largely created in the studio. What made you want to completely reverse the process this time around?

It wasn’t really a decision to reverse the process outright. It was more about trying something new and finding a sound together, the three of us, after being four people on the last record. Martin, from our label Squama, invited us into his studio in Munich, and what came out of it was a mix of songs we’d already played live and written, and others that started from scratch there, improvising, just sitting together and trying things.

A lot of the record grew out of improvisation and was captured in single takes. Was there ever a temptation to keep refining those performances, or did you know quite quickly when you’d captured the right version?

We used the limited time we had to focus, record a couple of takes of every idea, and used that as the structure to refine further, into more fully-fledged tracks. The limitation kept us moving. We recorded the whole album in two sessions, much faster than the debut, which took a long time.

You’ve described Roomer as something that ‘fills the awkward silences’ when the three of you spend time together. What happens musically between you that you don’t get from your individual projects?

We know each other well, in music and as friends. When a new song arrives, it usually dictates where the music should go on its own, without us having to do too much… we’re like the song’s caretakers, just making sure they don’t get lost.

All three of you have spent years working in quite experimental areas of music, but Roomer also represents a return to music you grew up with. What were you listening to when you were younger, and how differently do you hear that music now?

Ludwig: I was fully immersed in band culture growing up, listening to bands, going to shows. My brothers played in bands too, which is what got me into an instrument early on. That music still resonates with me, and after years of playing electronic music, there’s a real pull back toward instrumental music, toward making music with people in a room again.

Luka: I grew up on band music too, rock music, playing in bands as a teenager, before moving through all kinds of other music that isn’t band music at all. Playing this now, I think we play it differently because of everything else we’ve been through since. Even a simple song with distorted guitars carries other sensitivities in the small details.

Ronja: For me, I was mostly playing classical music when I was young, until I found singer-songwriters and started writing my own songs, a completely different approach. That’s what pulled me in then, and it’s shaped what still interests me now.

The places where Staircase Made of Rope was recorded seem unusually present in the finished album, from a childhood home to Squama’s concrete stairwell. How much does the physical environment you’re recording in affect the decisions you make?

It’s mostly about the mood the places set. We recorded the title track on the couch in Luka’s parents’ living room, which has a different energy than a studio. The studio gave us access to all the gear, different mics, pre-amps, effects, and that brought out something else entirely.

Compared with Leaving It All to Chance, the lyrics here seem much less direct, often circling around emotions without explicitly naming them. What prompted that change in the way you write?

Some of the lyrics on this record come out of dreams. Ronja was writing hers down around that time, and it fed into the songs. We also wanted more abstract lyrics, ones that leave room for interpretation, so a listener can find their own meaning in the words and the music.

There’s an interesting idea running through the record of comfort being offered and then almost immediately refused. Where do you think that tension comes from?

We like the idea of offering comfort and then not letting the listener settle into it, challenging them, offering it again, then pulling it away once more. Especially in our live performances, we enjoy that contrast, rather than sitting in one comfortable state the whole way through. It’s more interesting with different forces working against each other.

What does the title Staircase Made of Rope mean to the three of you, and at what point did it begin to feel like the right title for the album?

It just sounded like the most epic title on our track list. It’s actually from a dream Ronja had, an image that stuck with us. We don’t really know what it means, there’s no explanation for it. Maybe it means one thing today and something else tomorrow. It’s almost like a riddle.

What do you love right now?

Playing together.

What do you hate right now?

The orga, the admin. We really hate it, but we’re still doing it tonight, promise. We’ve got a team helping us, which is amazing: Amande, Anton, Martin, Max. We love our team.

Can you name an album you’re still listening to from when you were younger and tell us why it’s still important to you?

Ludwig: For me, it’s The Notwist.

Ronja: I think about what my family played when I was growing up, Neil Young, for one. I still listen to his music a lot.

Luka: When I was really young, I found Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield going through my dad’s record collection, which was mostly band music, the Stones, the Beatles. That was the only instrumental record in there. I got back to it recently, after not listening to it for twenty years, and realised it had a real influence on me.

When someone hears your music for the first time, what do you hope sticks with them?

We hope it makes people daydream to play in a band themselves.