Daniel Romano - Come Cry With Me (12/05/2014)
Daniel Romano gives a solid rendition of meat-and-potatoes country and western on his fourth solo studio release, Come Cry With Me. Rife with twangy lamentations, cooing southern belles, and a melancholic slide guitar/ fiddle combo swishing through each languidly paced ballad, Romano is certainly an accomplished and enthusiastic fan of the genre.
Lyrically, Romano has his tongue placed faintly in his cheek throughout the record. It’s clear jokes aren’t the whole gig here, but his modern twists on stalwart themes of heartbreak, roadtrippin’, drinkin’, et al that C&W has endlessly cycled make for a giggle on occasion. I’m Not Crying Over You tells of a man who has long since given up feeling down about a woman who has left him, and the tears she sees are in fact him merely practising for an acting gig. The punch line comes on slow (well it did for other people, you’ve read this and ruined it now), and adds the level of coy smarts to the song for which Romano is now almost universally acclaimed. Other highlights on the record include the ramblin’, Johnny Cash inspired knee slapper, Chicken Bill, and engrossing opening warbler Middle Child.
The album’s cover art so lavishly pays tribute to the technicolour aesthetic of countless other 70’s LP portrait covers, that one could easily mistake Come Cry With Me as a goofy comedy album before listening. Comedic it may be, but never excessively, and certainly in no way condescending or cynical. Come Cry With Me is a wondrous throw back to country at it’s finest hour, and stands head and shoulders above the bottomless well of dreadful and contrived rubbish that the genre produces in the modern age.
Todd Gingell
Lyrically, Romano has his tongue placed faintly in his cheek throughout the record. It’s clear jokes aren’t the whole gig here, but his modern twists on stalwart themes of heartbreak, roadtrippin’, drinkin’, et al that C&W has endlessly cycled make for a giggle on occasion. I’m Not Crying Over You tells of a man who has long since given up feeling down about a woman who has left him, and the tears she sees are in fact him merely practising for an acting gig. The punch line comes on slow (well it did for other people, you’ve read this and ruined it now), and adds the level of coy smarts to the song for which Romano is now almost universally acclaimed. Other highlights on the record include the ramblin’, Johnny Cash inspired knee slapper, Chicken Bill, and engrossing opening warbler Middle Child.
The album’s cover art so lavishly pays tribute to the technicolour aesthetic of countless other 70’s LP portrait covers, that one could easily mistake Come Cry With Me as a goofy comedy album before listening. Comedic it may be, but never excessively, and certainly in no way condescending or cynical. Come Cry With Me is a wondrous throw back to country at it’s finest hour, and stands head and shoulders above the bottomless well of dreadful and contrived rubbish that the genre produces in the modern age.
Todd Gingell