ROMÁN GIL

Román Gil biography
Born in Barcelona, Spain, on March 27, 1972, Román Gil is a distinguished singer, guitarist, and producer. He has served as a guitarist and occasional producer for a variety of artists, including Alberto Montero, Isaac Ulam, Rik van den Bosch, The Gurus, Steven Munar, and La Meccanica Sonora. His inaugural solo album, Vía Láctea, was launched on December 21, 2007. As an eclectic artist, he draws from diverse influences, merging them in a passionate and unique style that resists categorization. Román embodies the do-it-yourself spirit, composing music, writing lyrics, arranging, and performing most instruments, as well as managing sound engineering. In 2015, he released an EP titled Miau!, and in 2023, he presented his most accomplished album, ATOM.

ATOM is a conceptual album, a strange operetta around the theme of death: life, death and death in life as well. An album that Román Gil has recorded at home over a long period of time (his previous work, Miau! dates back to 2015). He plays most of the instruments, but he has some notable collaborations: Brossa Quartet de Corda, Lisa Bause (violin), Natsuko Sugao (trumpet) or Jordi Farreras (drums) among others. All the arrangements and string scores are by Román, as well as sound mixing and production.

To describe a little what ATOM sounds like, the artist himself cites some of his disparate influences: Wagner, Jimi Hendrix, Bowie, Lluis Llach, Jacques Brel, King Crimson, Lucio Battisti, Brian Wilson or Richard Rodgers.

Although the songs are so stylistically different from each other, it is true that there is an attempt at a link or a thread. The album begins with a sort of prelude that presents a melody that will appear later in several more songs. The last track ends with an instrumental delirium where small fragments of several of the songs that make up the album are revealed as a summary and conclusion.

The lyrics are woven around the theme of illness and death, ending with the death of the artist himself (Cançó de Comiat). Although the theme and solemnity of some of the tracks can be somewhat dark, there are also touches of humor to lighten the mood a little and restore solemnity to the subject.