Sometimes serious setbacks, thanks to happy coincidences, can open up new possibilities. If ROVER hadn't been expelled from Lebanon two years ago due to visa issues, his songs would likely have gone unheard. At that time, the well-traveled songwriter Timothée Régnier was playing in the punk rock band The New Government, which challenged the mindset in the Middle East. After his abrupt return to France, he found himself in a house full of musical instruments in Brittany. As he contemplated his future, he arrived at the best outcome one could imagine and spent an entire winter working on his own compositions and recordings. In this "rather run-down" home studio, he learned to master his unique, elastic voice, which is smoky and dark on the electrifying tracks and rises when passion takes hold of him.
Unconsciously, he follows in the footsteps of those he admires and listens to almost daily: Brian Wilson's Beach Boys, Bowie, and the Beatles. However, ROVER is neither a follower nor a young nostalgic.
Like the contemporary artists he loves – especially Interpol – he has processed, reinterpreted, and synthesized his various influences. New York, where his family moved when he was 7 years old, fostered his creativity. It was also there that he first came into contact with a guitar, as his classmates from the French Lycée in New York were the Strokes.
Having learned English for fun while playing in a band with his brothers as a teenager, he can handle the language quite effortlessly, instinctively, and without a trace of an accent.
He recorded his debut album with Samy Osta (Cocosuma, Tahiti Boy & The Palmtree Family) and Guillaume Jaoul between the Microbe Studio and the Chicken Cottage Studio, which belongs to the label Third Side Records.
Timothée wrote, composed, played, sang, and arranged all the songs. It was produced in vintage style with analog technology, with the idea of capturing the atmosphere and mood that initially inspired him to write. His songs benefited from the comfort and precision of a studio recording, as well as from the many instruments that shaped ROVER's bold approach and from his arrangement (organ, piano, guitar, synthesizer, drum machine, etc.)
He chose to be known under the name ROVER because of its masculine connotation and his love for British cars ("My parents drove nothing else when I was a kid"), but also because he sees life as a series of journeys. And he is still far from his destination. In recent weeks, he has had a series of intense shows as the presenter of a quartet, which has made word-of-mouth grow night after night. A Frenchman with rock’n’roll as his mother tongue? A rare, unforgettable wonder…
One doesn't have to wait for recognition from abroad to celebrate this brilliant newcomer!
The ROVER Album "Rover" (Cinq7/Indigo) has already been released.
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