We first discovered Romain Gutsy for his evocative single, If You See Her, so we are thrilled to share a review of his album, When Leonard Met Dolly!
Opening with the song As Dylan Said, we are greeted by bright and cosmic guitar plucking fused with cerebral frequencies as Romain Gutsy opens the song with lyrics about freedom, life, a search for justice and more themes of the human condition. Romain Gutsy is joined by Sarah-Julia as the song expands to take on a more dimensional and enigmatic energy.
By Being Kind is the second track on the record and opens with a more pulsating vibe as Romain sings “by being kind, you change the world, by being fearless, you make it safe…”
We love the positive energy that Romain brings with this song of freedom and love. Chopped strings amplify the track and once again, we experience additional vocals by Sarah-Julia who is actually featured on every track on the record except the final opus.
Next up is If I Were to Extend Myself Everywhere, where Romain sings about his expansion of his being into the oneness of the planet. The track builds until we experience a breakdown with electric guitar which really dimensionalizes that track along with Romain’s chanting and more cyber vocal details that deliver a more ethnic and pyschdelic feel to the record.
I’m a Married Man is the fourth track on the album which lends itself to a more uptempo jazz energy. We love the saxophone solo which evokes a wilder side of Romain’s cohesive sound.
The fifth track is Yusuf’s Question which opens the sound up to a more old school British folk energy, still delivering a theme of curiosity that leads to freedom. Romain sings, “don’t tell me we’re too many here, as we could be so many more…” in response to the political and immigration crisis.
She Is Dolly is a descriptive track which references one of the protagonists of the title of the record and Romain professes his love for the icon calling her beautiful and queen and singing, “her love is like a butterfly…”
Lucky number seven is called Leonard’s Gypsy Wife which includes a playful question-answer deliver from Romain and Sarah-Julia. “Where there is light, there’s forgiveness”, sings Romain with deep wisdom.
A Narrow Fellow in the Grass is the penultimate track on the record which is a minimalist delight, opening with guitar details and Romain’s iconic vocals. The song expands to include a luscious strings segment and we are truly hypnotized. This is possible the most dimensional track on the record.
Finally we experience, If You See Her which we fell in love with recently. The narrative of the song tells the story of regret from the perspective of the protagonist who want to relay a message to his muse. Romain Gutsy’s vocal is deep and sung and full of raw emotion like some of the greats.
We love the record, which features exquisite instrumentation particularly Romain’s saturated electric guitars, and have added By Being Kind to our New Music Spotlight playlist along with If You See Her!
When Leonard Met Dolly is the first album that Romain Gutsy has recorded under his own name, described as “a jewel of American music revisited by a French spirit”. Romain Gutsy is a French-born singer-songwriter and a musician who started his career in the 90s, singing and playing accordion with French bands such as Les Affamés, or guitar in the Celtic band Daffy Plays Mandola, as well as playing with more famous artists such as the Grammy award winner alt-Rock band, Soul Asylum, or American singer, Calvin Russel.
After more than 20 years of musical semi-pause and traveling all over the world, he came back in 2020 with a solo album under the name of THE RED, Whatever Says the Clock, featuring songs composed of lyrics made of classical American and Irish poetry.