• 16
  • 11
  • 2017
  • 07.30
  • pm
  • Ballroom

Hey! Manchester presents Daniel Romano

Please note this is an 18+ event

Prolific Canadian singer/songwriter Daniel Romano will release his seventh solo album Modern Pressure on 19 May 2017 via New West Records. Following his ambitious and genre-spanning full-length Mosey from last year, Modern Pressure was written in observational scrutiny beneath the overcast atmosphere of 2016 and vigorously tackles the present-day heaviness we contain in the jotting bones of our guilty expressions. Vice’s music site Noisey premiered the third track from the album recently, calling it ‘a dreamy, laid back head-nodder featuring shuffling shakers, jangly tambourine, and ever-present, slinking guitar lines’.

‘Roya is a celebration of women,’ Romano says of the song. ‘Roya is to represent the femininity in nature and the universal She. This is a devotional memoir pertaining to the strength, endurance, spirit, and godlike gravity of our mothers, sisters, lovers and friends.’

Of the album, Noisey praises, ‘It’s sonically spiritual to 2016’s Mosey, and shows Romano continuing to sharpen his signature sound, combining elements of retro-tinged rock ‘n’ roll, country and psychedelia to create a vibrant tapestry of tunes that feel just as at home in 2017 as they might in 1965.’ Modern Pressure will be available at all streaming services and for purchase on vinyl, CD, and digital download upon release.

Propelled and resourceful as he is prolific, Romano recorded Modern Pressure at a minimalistic cabin in secluded Finnsa?s, Sweden with additional string and horn players being added at Baldwin Street Sound in Toronto, ON. Engineered by long-time collaborator Kenneth Meehan, the fevered pace of work lent itself to the unrestrained and undeviated nature of the songs themselves; songs that fully reflect Romano’s expansive songwriting and eclectic arrangements inspired by great pioneers of individuality such as Lee Hazlewood, Leonard Cohen, Serge Gainsbourg, Randy Newman and Bob Dylan.

Over the past decade, Romano has gained three Polaris Music Prize nominations and three Juno nominations, as well as been awarded two platinum albums and Juno Awards for his performance, production, and arrangement work with artist City and Colour. His 2015 New West Records debut If I’ve Only One Time Askin’ garnered rave reviews from NPR’s Fresh Air, Rolling Stone Country, Mojo, Uncut, Boston Globe, and Exclaim!; and it set the stage for the release of Mosey, which Pitchfork called ‘a solid entry in the new-school canon of hybrid country’ and The Line of Best Fit named one of The Fifty Best Deep Cuts of 2016. From indie-folk multi-instrumentalist to countrypolitan resurgent to psychedelic rock chameleon, Romano has amassed an impressive list of collaborators including actress Rachel McAdams, The Tragically Hip’s Gord Downie, legendary Canadian singer-songwriter Ron Sexsmith, and trailblazing bands The Constantines and The Sadies.

‘Daniel Romano sings like Adam Granduciel, plays guitar like a member of Thin Lizzy, and writes songs like Wilco at their power-poppiest’ – Flood Magazine