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Album reviews Music

Daniel Romano – Sleep Beneath The Willow

DANIEL ROMANO plays the Dakota Tuesday (April 5). See listing. Rating: NNNN


Prolific classic country rocker Daniel Romano’s new album opens with a chorus of soaring female voices that usher in the standout tune Time Forgot (To Change My Heart). The song exemplifies what’s to come: slick (but not too slick) production values, superb storytelling and an unhurried down-tempo vibe.

Last year’s Workin’ For The Music Man featured equally strong and generally peppier songs, but the mix was lacking and the arrangements sparser. Intact here are classic country sounds (pedal steel, guitar twang, fiddle, banjo), woeful lyrics and songwriting that evokes Waylon Jennings and Glen Campbell. Best are the Welland musician’s postmodern twists: a tempo or key change, a structural surprise, the insanely low bass note he hits when you least expect it.

A little poky, the album picks up on side two thanks to Helen’s Restaurant’s delightful lyrics, the sophisticated There Are Lines In My Face and a live version of the achingly simple Nothing.

Top track: Nothing

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