“We Are Maggie and Terre and Suzzy”
Friday, November 16th, 2007
The Roches were in town last night, playing the Aladdin Theatre. The Roches, if you don’t know, are a 3-sister folk-rock band whose members play guitar and piano and sing.
But that’s an oversimplified explanation – Yes, they sing. They sing in exquisite harmonies, blending and balancing the soprano, alto and baritone voices. You’ve heard nothing like them. They are unique.
I said they are a folk band, but that doesn’t adequately describe their comic and profound lyrics – comicly profound? They have an offbeat sense of humor with an undercurrent of politics, though no direct mention of politics was made.
They are probably a little older than me, but that’s another unknown.
“…We don’t give out our ages or our phone numbers.
Sometimes our voices give out,
but not our ages and our phone numbers.”
That lyric is from their introductory song, “We Are Maggie and Terre and Suzzy.” YouTube has scads of videos of The Roches, including that song performed at the Philadelphia Folk Festival, date unknown.
Maggie, Terre and Suzzy Roche have a deep understanding of harmony. They weave three notes together with the precision of a spaceship pilot through an asteroid field. At times, notes so unerringly close to one another as to convey pain and discontent. More times, notes in an open harmony demonstrating the three unique personalities of their wielders.
Check their website for their tour dates.
