Dear Rouge is not your average alt rock band, they are an alt rock band run by Drew and Daniel McTaggart, a married couple. Dear Rouge was formed in 2012 where they released 2 EPs and actually won over 100,000 dollars in Peak Performance Project put on by the BC music industry organization and CKPK-FM a radio station in Vancouver. After that Dear Rouge was up and running releasing a couple of singles and then their debut album in 2015. 

Dear Rouge has been doing this for over a decade, and with their latest album release “Lonesome high”, i think this is their best album yet. The album begins with “Goon”, a very catchy song and it’s a good starter to lure the listener in. Songs like “Garbage”, and “selfish love”, show the vulnerability in this album. They dive into topics about holding on to something, letting go, and the pressures of life in general. It comes from such an interesting point of view though as Dear Rouge is run by a couple. It is like we the listener are diving into the couple’s thoughts. 

This album also shows growth in their musical ability. This album kind of goes away from their more alt rock sound. It keeps elements of it, but it fuses more pop beats in this album a prime example of this would be “Selfish love”. Dear Rouge, switching things up necessarily isn’t a bad thing though. This album definitely is more danceable if that makes any sense compared to their other albums.  Spill magazine had to say “you probably will not come across a dance-rock album this year that comes close to matching their level of excellence”, https://spillmagazine.com/spill-album-review-dear-rouge-lonesome-high/?utm_

A great thing about this album is the run time on it. It’s only 35 minutes long. You could legit make a whole cajun chicken sandwich at that time. Fans of Dear Rouge will love that this record doesn’t shy away from the hard topics of letting go and the pressures of life. Overall I think this is easily Dear Rouge’s best work from production to almost a new combination of Rock and Pop. As we wait on a new album from this couple, you can only expect the best from them after this project.