This past year Roman has received some wonderful awards and nominations. “I’m so happy to receive any award or acclamation for what I do but at the same time I’m just trying to make the best art that I can. Between some of the awards out of Hollywood California through The Independent Music Awards and in the southern U.S. The International Music And Entertainment Association have been a great pleasure to be a part of. These organizations do not base their judging strictly on merchandise sales but they are guilds that work together to recognize an artists’ contribution to American culture,” he said. “This for me has far more moxie and sand as far as winning an award is concerned. There have always been things in culture that have been greatly popular because the amount of attention that has been paid to it. In that same statement I can say there is a great amount of popular culture that is paid for by companies in order for it to become popular. What’s important to recognize is the artists’ endeavors and their contribution to the day and age that we live in and its validity in this moment.”
On his latest album, Letters From High Latitudes, he said, “This album is another doorway into the mental landscape and sociopolitical environments that we live in. I’m constantly writing music as a direct result of the emotional impact of so many things that I feel. At the end of a year’s time I can reflect and look back at this journal of information and start to see the envelope of what it belongs to. There were a number of synchronistic moments that came into play from finding a book written by Lord Dufferin entitled ‘Letters From High Latitudes.’ I happen to live in Dufferin County in a town which is the second highest elevation in Ontario, Canada. The songs themselves are a description of the day and age that we live in and were summated nicely by the title of the book. I’m often working on the synchronistic moments as they show themselves to me. As time goes on I get older and I reflect on these times of intrigue and I realize there’s something far greater at hand when the disconnected points actually start to create a picture. There’s always a message in the madness.”
He has released some acoustic video demos, highlighting some of the upcoming songs on his next album. “I’ve been putting up little clips of different tunes that I’ve been working on for the new album. Red Omen will be the title for hopefully a spring release in 2016. This of course is an anagram of my own name, Ed Roman. I’m continually surprised and intrigued by the amount of these kinds of words that exist all through our language. Most of the time it can be found in subtle bits of advertising and iconography that is more like agonized symbolism. It’s not like the entire album is going to be filled with ciphers and metaphors but at the same time I’ve been cleverly crafting and wordsmithing things into a grouping of new material that is sitting with more gravity than most. I think a lot of artists today aside from trying to make a living out of what they do are recognizing all of these subtle changes that are occurring everywhere around us. Not only in our own countries, but around the world. This is one of my concerns as an artist when it comes to understanding subtle energy and how it affects us in a negative and in a positive way. Music has always been deeply connected to human biorhythms. Even in a chaotic situation, organized beauty like a forest, humans will gravitate to these areas for peace and solace. The force will provide the sounds of its nature from a songbird or the gentle babbling creek and whispering wind that moves the canopies’ leaves in the trees above your head. This is nature’s Symphony. Music has this attachment to this living emotional environment which is then recorded in the human condition and retransmitted to the listeners. Technology is not one of the things that promotes these subtle energy systems nor does it keep it in a state of balance. It’s important to remember that technology is nothing but a tool and not a part of our body electric,” he said.
He noted that he has had some incredible experiences as a musician. “Traveling all over the world and meeting incredible people. Playing in wonderful venues and classic historical locations. I have played for thousands of people at a time in giant auditoriums and have played for people that had nothing in ditches and streets in places people would never want to go. The highlight for me is being able to do this every day of my life. It’s what I’ve always wanted since I was a child. Ever since the moment that I had cognitive thought the idea to be able to do this was more like breathing than just being something that I did to make money or put a trophy on the shelf. As I mentioned, for me music is life. I can’t imagine life without it nor can I imagine me not engaging with it in some way. To me everything is music and will always be,” he said.
