Ana Lola Roman is a singer, multi-instrumentalist, choreographer and performance artist. She travels between Brooklyn, New York and Berlin, Germany. Originally from a very small town in Oklahoma, she has been an accomplished pianist from age 6 and regularly tours Europe & the USA. Roman, a first-generation American with parents from Spain, garnered her talents through flamenco, tango, Cuban “Son” music, 80’s pop, modern dance, and finally exposed herself to German minimal wave, italo-disco and IDM music. These influences make her music ripe with crossover complexity. It’s not easy to categorize Roman’s music, but one could say it strikes a representative physical effort on part of the listener, be it through dance or through reflection. Roman deliberately creates thick atmospheres of strict beats generated by drum machines, percussive pianos rhythms, bass guitar, and synthesizers which she programs herself.
In July 2009, Roman began to amass a collection of samples recorded in Berlin’s Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg districts. Many of her beats were organically made and recorded inside the hidden landmark TEUFELSBERG, an abandoned CIA station located outside of Berlin. This process would be the impetus and inspiration of her current full-length album to be released in early 2011. This, along with her recording process, has made Roman a conceptual subject for many directors, photographers, and video artists.
In 2008 she toured Germany and made a short film with Hamburg-based director, Sonke Held for Ana’s song “Sparrow.” from “Pearls on the Hook.” Later in 2008 she also toured the U.S. and appeared in numerous Music Festivals on the East Coast. In September of 2009 Roman teamed up with Berlin-Based Video Installation Artist Daniela Gast to choreograph and co-compose a piece for Berlin’s elections and became her own “dance Installation” for ART FAIR BERLIN.
In early March, 2010 she toured Germany, Austria, and Denmark armed with what she calls “a rough Guerilla sample of songs” on her EP called Kreuz Wave. The EP sold out at shows all over Europe, proving her “rough samples” to be successful. In April, 2010 she returned to Berlin to work with director Daniela Gast, on the video for the upcoming single, “Jigsaw.” Roman returned to Brooklyn in early May to begin writing more songs.
Roman then contacted Tom Ellard, founding member of the 80’s Australian experimental and electronic group Severed Heads. Roman, who slates Ellard as “easily one of the most underrated electronic composers and visual artists of the modern age,” granted Roman permission to sing, produce, and add additional parts to two Severed Heads songs that were previously released in the mid- 80’s. Ellard and Roman have since continued their correspondence throughout the current recording process.
Evidently, Roman’s conceptual background demands that she not only write songs, but compose for the purpose of visual landscapes. Her live performances include what she calls “artificial” dance instillations, atmospheric throat singing, heavy tribal drums, and piano all composed under the guise of a “Pop Obscura” sensibility
Roman has participated in the CMJ Music Festival in New York City. Her songs have been featured in the film Two Blue Wolves . She has appeared on WMFU, WNYC, and East Village radio, along with other radio stations around the United States including a live performance and interview on acclaimed NPR affiliate WUTC 88.1fm in Chattanooga TN. Television appearances include “The Ed Schrader Show” which airs in Baltimore, and Washington D.C. and other cable access channels. She’s also appeared on Northern Deutsch Radio (NDR), The Paul Baskerville Show, and Radio Munich.
