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 Mellisa 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 America’s “Queen of Hearts” won 2nd place in
2007.