A member of the renowned New Jersey-based pop-punk band The Front Bottoms, an in-demand producer that has worked with Lorde and Gaslight Anthem, and a solo artist all at once, Erik Kase Romeo can do it all. Following a 2022 EP and a single from earlier this year, he is gearing up to release his debut full-length album, titled how to be still and still be here.
To Romero, the album is a “documentation of a particular moment in [his] career and life” and a “product of examination, healing, and self-awareness.” It looks inwards and out to the broader world, reflecting a “transformative” year and “a profoundly traumatic moment in American history.” Although it won’t be out until early 2024, Romero has gifted us the lead single, “still”, which sets the scene for what we might be able to expect from the project as a whole.
A prime example of his songwriting expertise, “still” is powerful, steady, and utterly heartfelt. With acoustic guitar, piano, and percussion complementing a commanding electric guitar and captivating melodies, the track touches on self-exploration and a search for authenticity. In his own words, Romero shares, “I think in the cracks of the simplicity, harmonically, it forced me to try and use melody and lyrics to communicate in ways that I often rely on other elements of songwriting to do. Lyrically it’s a song about unpacking who I am both ancestrally and personally. It’s a song about the struggle of being present.”
“I wrote this song longer ago than most songs on the record. In a practical way, I was frustrated with my own songwriting and wanted to challenge myself to make a song that never deviated from the same chord progression. ‘still’ ended up being the result of that,” he continues.
Watch the music video…
Stream “still”…