{"id":191811,"date":"2018-11-30T04:12:16","date_gmt":"2018-11-30T09:12:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=191811"},"modified":"2018-11-30T04:12:16","modified_gmt":"2018-11-30T09:12:16","slug":"review-daniel-romano-connects-with-cosmos-on-finally-free","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/11\/30\/review-daniel-romano-connects-with-cosmos-on-finally-free\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Daniel Romano connects with cosmos on ‘Finally Free’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Eclectic, prolific Canadian Daniel Romano’s \u201cFinally Free\u201d connects directly to the cosmos, his acoustic-based compositions relying on gorgeous melodies and vocal harmonies to construct a set worthy of any Woodstock-era festival. (File Photo<\/a>: danielromano_official\/Instagram<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Daniel Romano, \u201cFinally Free\u201d (New West Records)<\/p>\n

Eclectic, prolific Canadian Daniel Romano’s \u201cFinally Free\u201d connects directly to the cosmos, his acoustic-based compositions relying on gorgeous melodies and vocal harmonies to construct a set worthy of any Woodstock-era festival.<\/p>\n

Taped on a four-track Tascam cassette recorder with a single microphone that never changed position while capturing the sounds of instruments around the room, the album echoes some of the primal density and adventurousness of Pete Townshend’s solo demos combined in the creative process with what sound like fragments of stream of consciousness.<\/p>\n

\u201cEmpty Husk\u201d launches the album with an autoharp-like strum and lyrics with words like \u201cenchantment,\u201d \u201cpreservation\u201d and \u201cmolecules\u201d building up to intense strumming and drumming and chants of \u201cno more darkness\/no more.\u201d It returns to calm repetitions of \u201cI am not afraid,\u201d a comforting reassurance of resilience.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the Reaching Trims\u201d has Joni Mitchell\/Nick Drake guitar parts, one of the aforementioned heavenly melodies and a heavy dose of metaphysical musings, just like \u201cThe Long Mirror of Time,\u201d which adds an organ to the soundscape.<\/p>\n

\u201cHave You Arrival\u201d is a saga which may have been twice as effective a minute or two shorter than its six-plus. It sounds like a Big Star-Donovan collaboration, nearly compensating for the excess. The vocals on \u201cGleaming Sects of Aniram\u201d reach a Robyn Hitchcock-like basso profundo, while the lyrics mention daffodils and \u201cthe naked lovers shedding spoiled skin.\u201d Naturally.<\/p>\n

Lyrics and song titles from one composition are quoted on others, an oft-repeated literary device, and there’s a Walt Whitmanesque spirit of transcendentalism throughout.<\/p>\n

Romano’s record bids farewell with \u201cThere’s Beauty in the Vibrant Form,\u201d which taken as a statement could be the motto for the whole album and its charming trembles throughout.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Daniel Romano, \u201cFinally Free\u201d (New West Records) Eclectic, prolific Canadian Daniel Romano’s \u201cFinally Free\u201d connects directly to the cosmos, his …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-191811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-entertainment","mauthors-pablo-gorondi","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191811\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}