First Listen: Romantica, 'Outlaws'
June 04, 2018
Romantica are releasing a new album, Outlaws, on June 8. Featuring 10 songs that were previously "outlawed" from other Romantica albums, the collection was culled from previous recording sessions and live shows. The new album includes some of the band's beloved songs like "Love in the Winter," "Dear Caroline," and "Baby Killed Bobby" as well as covers of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" and the Beatles' "Something."
Outlaws features contributions from former band members as well as guests including Ryan Adams, who joined the band for a live recording of "The Dark" at the State Theatre in Minneapolis.
In a press release, songwriter and frontman Ben Kyle said, "This is the best of the rest. These are all songs that we wish would have seen the light of day at one time or another but never did — for one reason or another. The significant battle for my health gave me the gift of reflecting deeply on our past and shaping a new vision for our future. Creative imagination begins in memory and so we begin our brave new era with a nod to the nuggets of our almost forgotten past."
Kyle spent the past two years fighting a life-threatening battle with lyme disease, and at times he wasn't sure he was going to make it. In celebration of his journey back to health, Kyle put together a list of "forgotten songs" to include in the album. For him, the songs he picked represent the sense of exile he felt during his illness and sometimes continues to feel.
"I've found there is a gift in the path of the exile or the outlaw if that way can become a doorway to a deeper experience of reality. If we can somehow learn to see or feel more deeply or clearly from that 'helpless' point of view," Kyle said in the statement. "Perhaps this is the gift in getting sick, really sick, before we get better. Almost dead, before we truly touch life. To lose nearly everything before it is all given back to you. Because when you've been this close to death, the smallest glimpse of life returning quickly becomes mind-blowingly magnificent. The simplest moment of real presence becomes the most wonderfully beautiful miracle."
Outlaws is currently available for pre-order, and signed copies are also available.
Simone Cazares is a student at Saint Paul College. Originally from Miami, Fla., she survives Minnesota's cruel winters by immersing herself in the Twin Cities music scene.