Track Review: The Girl From Kerry // Romain Gutsy
After 20 years of a “musical semi-pause”, French-born singer-songwriter Romain Gutsy is back with music to soothe the soul. Showcasing his multi-instrumental side, Romain has played with various bands including accordion with Les Affames and guitar in Daffy Plays Mandola. If you haven’t heard of those acts, then you should have heard of Grammy award-winning acts like Soul Asylum and Calvin Russel – both having Romain Gutsy playing with them. The latest addition to his critically acclaimed repertoire is ‘The Girl From Kerry’.
Hot on the heels of his song ‘If You Don’t Mind’, ‘The Girl From Kerry’ is an upbeat, toe-tapping and highly enjoyable folk song. While it opens with a stark Leonard Cohan-esque sound filled with Romain’s gruff vocals exclusively, there is a quick change in pace to something less intense – although still as intimate. What I find intriguing is how the sound of this song moves effortlessly from slow, steady and slightly melancholic to fun, high-paced and jovial. Yet, while the joviality shines through once you reach the end, it is in juxtaposition with the sadder theme…or at least it should be.
Written by Romain Gutsy and produced by South African Marc Bentel, ‘The Girl From Kerry’ uses a personal narrative to tell the tale of lost love. The protagonist found the love of his life, planned a future together, and then she died. Surely, this should be a poignant song of despair; however, the single “tells a very sad story without any sadness”. Instead of speaking about mourning, Romain wraps the tale up as he dances with the beloved’s ghost in Ireland and that’s pretty awesome!
No stranger to Romain Gutsy, we have reviewed his work a couple of times. Once again, Romain leaves me speechless with a massive grin on my face as I listen to ‘The Girl From Kerry’ over and over again.
This artist was found on Musosoup #sustainablecurator