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ROMANTICA
http://www.romanticamusic.com/
[BIOGRAPHY]
[PHOTOS]
[PRESS]
[TOUR DATES]
[AUDIO]
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BIOGRAPHY
ROMANTICA "AMERICA"
Penned by an immigrant Irishman, it may appear the only thing "America" about Romantica's new record is the soil on which Ben Kyle is singing. But the references to Ireland are placed firmly in the rich musical traditions of American country and folk music. America is a journey across "the pond" and across the country. It contemplates life, love and death, portraying the classic elements of life in charming retrospection.
Kyle's lush and airy vocals set the tone for this atmospheric record, which is at times breezy, at others haunting. Painted by the swirling pedal steel guitar of Eric Heywood (Son Volt, Richard Buckner, Ray LaMontagne) and the emotive fiddling of Jessy Greene (Wilco, Jayhawks, Minus 5), it becomes clear why Spin's Melissa Maerz called Romantica's sound "Americana (that's) something more than the sound of the states."
Featuring mariachi horns on a tex-mex train, "The National Side" chronicles the transplanting of Kyle's family from the green shores of Ireland to North America. As the song lets on, Kyle's mother played on the Irish national side field hockey team and his father was a medical doctor until they moved to the United States as missionaries in 1994.
More in the timbre of Elliot Smith or Iron & Wine, "Drink the Night Away" chronicles the life of a high school team through their glory to the untimely death of one of their young heroes. "Ixcatan" crosses a wedding day celebration with outlaw violence in haunting yet sublimely beautiful tones. The gravity of Kyle's voice hovering upon the weightlessness of Heywood's soaring steel guitar creates a tension that beautifully mirrors the story.
Recorded in a studio built by the band and almost entirely through a single microphone and pre-amp, America is covered with the fingerprints of American artists like Gram Parsons, Ryan Adams, Bruce Springsteen, and Iron and Wine, as well as a few from across the pond such as Damien Rice, Nick Drake and Van Morrison.
America is the follow-up to Romantica's debut It's Your Weakness That I Want, which hit the CMJ Top 200 and received sustained airplay on Twin Cities FM megastations KQRS and Cities 97, as well as MPR's influential indie station 89.3 The Current. It's Your Weakness That I Want gathered critical acclaim, including Best Americana Album at the 2004 Minnesota Music Awards. Songs from the record have won two International Songwriting Competition
awards: "On My Mind" took 2nd place in 2004, Mexico took 1st place in the in 2005. An early release of the America track "Queen of Hearts" won 2nd place in 2007.
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PHOTOS
Click on a thumbnail to download that hi-res JPEG (suitable for publication):
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TOUR DATES
 
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PRESS
Romantica - St. Paul City Lights
Minnpost.com
By Jim Walsh - 9/22/08
Romantica, "St. Paul City Lights" (Sept. 15, Café Barbette). There's a moment in every good bar gig when the room tilts and transforms into a funhouse barrel or careening boat deck, and the music, people, drinks and conversation all coalesce into one magical cinematic scene. There were many such life slices in this two-set evening with Romantica, who someday soon will be mentioned in the same pantheon of song-oriented bands as the Waterboys and Wallflowers.
The day had brought the news of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, the political discussion had devolved into white-versus-black noise, and inside a yuppie bar in Minneapolis to a packed house of moneyed young men and women, Ben Kyle, the young father, husband, and troubadour, sang this ode to a working-class bar in St. Paul (chorus, I think: "Everybody's down at the Turf Club") and all the people he loves and summons in song. Nothing short of heart-shaping.
Romantica - America
babysue®
Beautiful, soft, smooth, lush, melodic pop. This is the second full-length release from Romantica. We had to spin America several times before the music had its intended effect. While at first the tracks on this album might seem like nothing more than generic soft pop...a few additional spins reveal compositions with a great deal more substance than first meets the ears. Irish singer/songwriter Ben Kyle writes tunes that definitely have a great deal in common with American bands, thus the title of this album seems particularly appropriate. His soft, subdued voice is perfectly suited for his style of music. America was recorded using just the right amount of studio polish and features the extraordinary talents of pedal steel guitarist Eric Heywood. In addition to Kyle, the band is rounded out by James Orvis (drums), Jessy Greene (violin), and Luke Jabobs (bass, guitar, backing vocals). We have listened to this disc about twelve times so far...and it just keeps sounding better and better and better. Truly beautiful stuff. Recommended.
(Rating: 5++)
LINK: http://www.babysue.com/2007-July-LMNOP-Reviews.html#anchor46061
Romantica - America
Paste Magazine - 4 stars
For anyone worrying that the Americana genre has become a repository of the bad irony of hipsters and has-been quackeries, fear not: Romantica is here to save the day. Singer and songwriter Ben Kyle is the latest in a long line of European exports to reinvigorate a genre by reclaiming it as his own: "God walks on the water, I walk through the rain." With one foot still in the his home country, one taking a tentative step into the mess of promises and disappointments on the other side of the pond, he and his band mates dust off the brilliance at the heart of America. Most albums with such ambitious titles fall flat in the attempt; Kyle, in songs and voice that sit comfortably between Jeff Tweedy and Ryan Adams, dwells comfortably in the long shadows cast by his forefathers while leaving his own undeniable stamp on the proceedings. Top notch. - David Mead
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AUDIO
Click on an audio track below to download a 60 second clip:
Romantica - America [2007]
Queen of Hearts [mp3]
The National Side [mp3]
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