Romantica - America

An album called America with a host of references to "Belfast" and "Donegal" gives a clue to the background of singer and songwriter Ben Kyle. Brought up in Northern Ireland until his late teens he then moved to Minneapolis where he formed Romantica. America is their second album and it is a beauty. Think Over The Rhine with a male vocal or Ryan Adams with a poppier voice. The songs had my ears and soul pricking up at regular intervals with instrumental flourishes, some from ex Wilco and Jayhawks girl Jessy Green, and lyrical twists and turns that are clever yet never over indulgent.

National Side is intoxicatingly infectious, pure unadulterated catchiness with great lyrics, laced with humour and a family�s past and future. The only slight problem might be the references to FA Cup and rhyming Gary Linekar with Salt and Vinegar might not be so easily understood in America�s mid west but he does get to pop reference David Beckham before he sets America on fire with LA Galaxy. There is a retrospective thread to the entire album with memories of life in Belfast or family holidays to the Gulf Of Mexico. Fiona, another radio friendly hit if there ever was one, takes a bleak look at Belfast. Listening to it in the post Adams and Paisley photo op that brings a bright future ever more probably, makes it sound like a bygone age, where bombs were exploding, policeman were frightened and Belfast was going nowhere. In painting the grimness of Belfast�s past it somehow brings out the joy of where it actually has gone.

There�s a sense too that Kyle has taken Sufjan Stevens� contribution to rock on board. The brass on National Side shows it in the arrangements but where so many seem to think that you have to be over clever and complicated in the post Sufjan days Kyle moves more in the slip stream of his story telling and the spirit of capturing places and people. Kyle seems smart enough to know what to be influenced by and what to avoid trying to copy.

Another similarity of Stevens is Romantic�s ability to talk spiritual without pontificating dogma. Drink The Night Away is the most played song on my Ipod and seems to be about the reckless tragedy of teenage drinking exploits until theological questions are asked of Jesus. In the subtlest and soul song stopping twist Jesus appears in the last scene to raise the cup and "drink the night away." The fragile God Walks On The Water is one for quiet reflection at any time of doubt or struggle. It is as honest and accurate a lesson in pilgrimage as you will hear in many a long year: "God walks on the water/I walk through the rain/One day we�ll walk together/When he comes back again."

Everything about the album is seemingly so effortless. I predict Album of the Year already!

 By Steve Stockman