Romantica

Belfast transplant Ben Kyle absorbed American country and folk-rockers like Gram Parsons into the very marrow of his bones, judging by the stellar songwriting on Romantica’s sophomore disc, 2007’s America. Kyle has a gift for wistful roots-rock, and shows a pleasing range from the breezy “Queen Of Hearts,” inspired by the late Jeff Buckley, to “Ixcatan,” a haunting rumination on violence, crime, love, death, and bullfighting. A lot of America deals with the Kyle family’s emigration—on “The National Side,” which features some splendid Calexico-esque Spanish horns, Kyle notes that his mother used to play hockey for Ireland’s national team, and he ruminates on a Belfast bombing in “Fiona.” The band’s latest is 2009’sControl Alt Country Delete, a rough but earnest project written and recorded in the space of just a single day.

Updated 10/19/2011