SUBMIT
A QUOTE
Etienne
De Rocher has that unhurried, put-together artistic coherence that comes
with great albums of the bell-bottomed past, specifically the early
1970s - a time when cover art was meant to be stared at while tripping
out on the headphones, and each side of an LP took you on a mystic journey.
read
the entire DailyCD.com piece-->
-DailyCD.com
Few new artists get the luxury of spending years making their first
record. Perhaps more would if they could come out with an album as good
as this one. It is a poised, confident CD, the work of someone who has
already mastered his craft, not someone just starting out. Every tiny
sound on the exquisite 12-song album is perfectly embedded in the carefully
crafted music. It's a sound that is spare and open, yet dense and intricate
at the same time. read
Joel’s entire piece-->
-Joel
Selvin (San Francisco Chronicle)
Every
now and then an album comes unassumingly across my desk, and it makes
the Earth move. This is what happened with the self-titled debut album
by Etienne de Rocher. His debut release is dripping with romance and
melancholy, but there is also a whimsical thread that weaves it all
together. read
Super Dee’s entire piece-->
-Super
Dee (Jambase.com)
AIf
anybody outside the Bay Area hears this singer-songwriter's long-awaited
full-length debut, this longtime local secret may have to commit to
a full-time career in music and endure all the comparisons with pop
geniuses I dare not mention here.
read
Derk’s feature piece-->
-Derk Richardson (SF Gate)
A
wise drunk once said that should you put a harmonica holster around
a man's neck and prop an acoustic guitar under his arm to approximate
an early Dylan look, you could sell that man to the world as a genius!
And yet if you simply added a washboard to his stomach, some bicycle
horns under his feet and strapped a bass drum to his back, that genius
would be instantly transformed into an idiot. There is after all, a
fine line between clever and stupid (to paraphrase another man)
read
Eric’s entire piece-->
-Eric Shea (Pacific Hessian Monthly)
He’s
got one of the sweetest voices around—a high, clear-as-a-bell
croon that glides easily through a song… he crafts songs that
rustle with bittersweet echoes of the past without becoming pastiches.
What’s most appealing is the sense of wonder that fills his songs,
as if he can’t believe how pretty a melody can be, even amid a
barrage of samples or a churning rhythm section.
-Sylvia
W. Chan (San Francisco Bay Guardian)
de Rocher's eponymous debut album shows he belongs in a league with
such nouveau pop-folksters as Devendra Banhart, Bright Eyes, Jolie Holland,
Joanna Newsom, Bart Davenport, and Sean Hayes (a frequent collaborator).
You won't find the overproduced, overblown sentimentality of some contemporary
pop singers (Kelly Clarkson comes to mind) anywhere near de Rocher's
music, so it's easy to get behind his grooves and allow yourself to
enter his gently broken-in world. Rivers of emotion flow through songs,
yet the torrent is 100 percent real. Wind in our ears/eyes full of tears/feel
what it's like to be free, he sings in Come Twilight, his falsetto trilling
amidst a bed of vaguely Southern-sounding acoustic and electric guitars,
like an unpretentious Tom Petty or Gram Parsons' long-lost son (de Rocher
actually resembles a young Jackson Browne somewhat, but don't hold that
against him)."
-
Eric K. Arnold, East Bay Express
This
singer/songwriter isn't messing around. After hearing his record, it
becomes clear to any listener that de Rocher is in it for the music.
One can't help but fall in love with Rocher's soothing voice and graceful
rhythm.
-
Michelle Gross, Marquee Magazine
This
San Francisco artist has just released the long-in-the-making debut
record that delivers what fans of Jack Johnson, Beck and Ben Harper
have really been waiting for, and delivers it without feeling the slightest
bit derivative. This is the sound I want to hear when I turn on the
radio. Modern, yet retro (in all the right ways) this is groovy, fuzzy,
hip California pop at its very best. Just right for a drive up the Pacific
Coastal Highway with the top down ( which is exactly how I experienced
it). Perfect."
-
Papa Mali, (interviewed by Glide Magazine)
Genuine
genius. Crosses lines from early Dylan to a softer, more refined Elliott
Smith, with a voice that melts one's cynicism and leads into a dreamy
wonderland. (I think I may be falling for him.)
-Charlie
Swanson, Bohemian Magazine
If
you didn't guess from this SF gent's fabulous name, Etienne De Rocher
is one smooth operator. Graced with such easygoing charm and flair,
his years-in-the-making debut self-titled album only confirms this.
Although this is indeed his first full length cd, he's certainly no
rookie. He's been honing his songcraft from a very early age. De Rocher's
well-crafted soft rock stylings are embellished with subtle strings
that add that extra air of elegance. Imagine a less flamboyant Rufus
Wainwright or a slightly more flamboyant Elliott Smith, Nick Drake or
Buckley Jr. and Sr. (r.i.p.) and you might get a sense of Monsieur De
Rocher. He saves one of his best songs for last, the sweetly romantic
"Goodnight". Nice!
-Aquarius
Records
As
if Beck had made a record with Peter Gabriel
-Paul
Bradshaw (Mod Lang), speaking of de Rocher’s self-titled
album
Etienne de Rocher's debut disc has arrived
and it was well worth the wait. Its seems to be a blend of psychedelic-folk
and california-soul, but really it defies catagories. The funky sound
and the depth of the soul on this disc provide a very unique emotional
journey. This is some fresh and powerful music, I highly suggest people
check him out!
-Michael
Tristan