Performing Songwriter
March/April 2007

The Roches
Moonswept

"It's the simple thing that matters," the Roches sing on their
reunion album, Moonswept. And it is perhaps simplicity that makes
this music so endearing. With no flashy instrumentation or
production gimmicks, the group's recorded output sustains a warm,
homey tone, as if the listener was somehow transported to the 18th
century on a rainy day and invited into the Roche Family estate to
dry off by the fire and be entertained by three cheerful, artistic
and tightly knit sisters. Quite often the record sounds
unapologetically cute and childlike, but one should not confuse those
youthful attributes with emotional naïveté. Very early, Suzzy Roche
nostalgically confesses to an old heartbreaker, "I hope you're
happy / Is that a stupid thing to say?" Though ego and hurt feelings
might cause most people to answer affirmatively to her question, the
sincerity within her words proves that sweet and simple sentiments
may coexist with admirably mature views on life and love. - DS