Roosevelt in Concert

The music of German singer/producer Roosevelt is best summed up by the title of his 2018 sophomore release: ‘Young Romance.’ His shimmering synth-pop vividly conjures summer nights on the beach at sunset, the heart-pounding thrill of blossoming courtship, that blissful high you never want to end — and the melancholic feeling of when it finally does. The artist born Marius Lauber first surfaced in the late 2000s as the teenage drummer for indie-rock upstarts Beat!Beat!Beat!, who achieved modest success in Germany. But upon relocating from his suburban hometown of Viersen to Cologne, he fell under the spell of the city’s electronic music scene, and eventually settled in Berlin to pursue his own beat-making experiments under the alias of Roosevelt – a nod to his general interest in American history. After making a name for himself with a suite of cosmic-disco remixes for various European artists, Roosevelt signed on with Greco-Roman, the buzzy Berlin label co-founded by Hot Chip’s Joe Goddard (and the early home of house hitmakers Disclosure). Anchored by the dance-floor reverie “Montreal,” Roosevelt’s 2013 debut EP, ‘Elliot,’ instantly established Lauber as an electronic-pop auteur in the mold of M83’s Anthony Gonzalez or Caribou’s Dan Snaith — artists whose keen understanding of rhythm and texture are second only to their flair for swoon-inducing psychedelic melodies. Roosevelt’s 2016 self-titled full-length fine-tuned the vision with the robust indie-disco of “Night Moves” and the sun-kissed, post-rave elation of “Fever.” And with ‘Young Romance,’ he makes his wide-screen statement, bringing a greater sense of soulfulness to the fore on the yearning “Under the Sun” and honoring his chillwave forbears by enlisting guest vocalist Ernest Greene Jr. — aka Washed Out — to float atop the oceanic drift of “Forgive.” But if Roosevelt’s albums are primarily solitary studio creations, onstage the project is reborn as a four-piece live band that translates Lauber’s celestial grooves into festival-ready bangers.