Introducing: Roscoe Roscoe

After a three-year silence, the band return in full technicolour with ‘Before You Die’ — a stunning swirl of lush psychedelia that nods to the cinematic cool of Serge Gainsbourg, the ambient majesty of Sigur Rós, and the harmonic ambition of The Beach Boys. It’s a bold, beautiful re-entry for a group who’ve quietly become cult favourites on the UK underground.

With a history of turning heads — from Glastonbury to Green Man, and a roster of collaborators and fans across the indie cosmos — Roscoe Roscoe are back to remind us what we’ve been missing.

‘Before You Die’ marks your return after three years away — it’s a beautifully layered track with shades of Sigur Rós and The Beach Boys. What drew you to the Serge Gainsbourg reference in the title, and how did the track take shape creatively?

The Serge Gainsbourg reference comes from a song in the soundtrack of the 70s movie 'Cannabis', which he both scored and stars in. I (Charlie) have never seen the film but Gainsbourg is one of my heros. The name of the song 'Avant de Mourir' translates to Before You Die or something around that and it just stuck with me. Before You Die was a song that we had in the Roscoe vaults for a long time before we paid any attention to properly writing. We actually demoed the song twice fully before we were ready to take it to the studio for recording. At the time Jacob and I were listening to a lot of post-rock music and sonically we wanted the track to sound more like Swans' 'Blind' more than anything. 

You’ve been a fixture in the East London underground for years now, often blurring psych, shoegaze, and dream-pop.

How do you feel your sound has evolved during your time away, and what new influences crept in while making this track?

The songs we had released before this single are very dear to us, but in some ways I feel like our approach to writing and recording have matured more than our musical sound having 'changed'. For sure our influences have differed since the first few songs we put out but I think the biggest factor for our difference in sound is within our taste of production and having more of an understanding of how to provoke certain emotion within our recordings.

You’ve played Glastonbury, headlined Green Man Rising, and shared stages with some seriously eclectic acts. How do those live experiences feed into your studio work, and vice versa?

 It's always a buzz playing shows like these. I think we are always striving for ways to perfect our sound in every aspect of the band and in the live world we always try to make it to be as epic and emotionally intense as possible. There is always a constant thought for me of how our set will come across in larger and larger scales of concerts, even if we aren't at that level yet, it's a driving force that pushes me to do more.

Roscoe Roscoe shares members with artists like Hank, Sarah Meth, and Mandrake Handshake — how do those collaborations shape or contrast with what you create as a band?

 The musical scene we share with our friends is precious but also quite incestuous and I think if you listen hard enough you will hear those similarities, regardless of how much the music may differ.

You’ve had early love from BBC 6 Music, So Young, and NME — with ‘Before You Die’ reintroducing you to the scene, what kind of space do you feel Roscoe Roscoe is carving out in 2025?

We shall see! It's been so much time now since we have last been releasing music but I'm confident in saying that we have so much more to give.