Ben Kyle
Luke Jacobs
Jim Orvis
Tony Zaccardi
Jessy Greene
At first glance the irony is thick on Romanticas new release America. Penned by an immigrant Irishman who writes a fair bit about his homeland, and delivers his nostalgia in a lilting Belfastian inflection, the only thing America about it seems to be the new soil on which hes singing. But listen to all this Irishness couched in the musical landscape of historically American country and folk music painted by the swirling pedal steel guitar of Eric Heywood Ray LaMontagne, Son Volt, Richard Buckne.. More >>r and the emotive fiddling of Jessy Greene Wilco, Jayhawks, Minus 5 and it comes clear why Rolling Stone's Melissa Maerz called it Americana, thats something more than the sound of the states Youll hear fingerprints of true American artists, 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.
Mariachi horns on a tex-mex train, The National Side chronicles the transplanting of singer Ben Kyles family from the green shores of Ireland to the Northern Americas. Kyles mother was a hockey player on the Irish national side, and his father a medical doctor before they moved to the United States in 1994. Ixcatan describes an outlaw shooting in the mountains of mid-Mexico in haunting and brooding but sublimely beautiful colors. The gravity of Kyles voice hovering upon the weightlessness of Mr Heywoods soaring steel guitar creates a holy tension that paints death in the most transcendent of lights.
Recorded entirely at home, in a studio built by the band, and almost entirely through one microphone and one pre-amp, Ben Kyles lush and effortless, airy vocals set the tone for this oft-times breezy and sometimes haunting, atmospheric record. Guitars, keys and essential harmonies come courtesy of Luke Jacobs. Steady, subtle and often poignant percussion is contributed by touring veteran James Orvis. And as mentioned above, string duties are performed by Romanticas latest addition, Jessy Greene. who brings a wealth of experience and depth from her history of pop and americana endeavors.
This is the follow-up to Romanticas debut Its Your Weakness That I Want which sat comfortably in the CMJ top 200 for over 2 months and received sustained airplay on Twin Cities FM megastations KQRS and Cities 97, as well as MPRs influential indie station, 89.3 The Current. It also won numerous awards including Best Americana Album at the 2004 Minnesota Music Awards and two International Songwriting Competition awards: On My Mind took 2nd place in the AAA category in 2004 and Mexico took 1st place in the Performance category in 2005. An early release of Americas lead track Queen of Hearts won 2nd Place in the Americana category of the same competition this year
The early critical response has been promising:
Paste Magazine gave the album 4 Stars and said, "Romantica is here to save the day. 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."
The Minneapolis Star Tribune has called it one of the "10 best Local albums of 2007 so far." Chris Riemenschnieder writes, "In a perfect world, the soccer, er, football ditty "The National Side" would score on local FM stations."
Romantica just returned from 3 weeks on the east coast. They'll return to the southeast and west this fall and travel to the UK in the new year to continue support of the new disc.
Bella Ruse
Bella Ruse's combination of airy folk and crunchy pop transforms rooms into secret gardens and paints pictures of invading bombardiers, salty sea love, and super glued hearts. Surrounded by a laboratory of instruments - typewriter, suitcase organ, glockenspiel, and kazoos - singer Kay Gillette's antique voice and Joseph Barker's mournful guitar twist and twirl and dip and dive and carry you deep down the rabbit-hole into their magical musical world.
They've been traveling the country for two years, opening for Sarah Mclachlan, Heart, and Hey Marseilles along the way. Their songs have been u..
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