In 2018, Guendoline Rome Viray Gomez – better known as No Rome – was described by The 1975’s Matty Healy as his “muse” following a number of collaborations on his 2018 EP ‘RIP Indo Hisashi’, including a feature on 2019’s ‘Narcissist’. Over the next few years, the band and Rome seemed fairly inseparable, with more collaborations and he eventually landed a support slot on their 2019 UK and Ireland tour.
His opening slots displayed his clear sense of artistic vision, with themes of early 20’s angst represented through silky synths and R&B beats. Yet, you can never really put Rome in a box. On tracks such as 5 Ways to ‘Bleach Your Hair’ and ‘Stoned In The Valley’, a punky side comes through, yet the gorgeous 1:45AM serves as a long tribute to UK garage. However, it seems as though the clear relationship between Rome and The 1975 contributed to his downfall. When so much of your musicianship is connected to someone else, the two are always going to be compared and this became abundantly clear on their tour together.
While far from a frightened novice, there was always the sense that Rome was struggling to connect to the audience in such large arenas, particularly when followed-up by the refined, experienced entertainer that is Matty Healy. This, coupled with an understandably sparse musical output across the pandemic, with most of those being more collaborations with Chase Atlantic, beabadoobee and, again, The 1975 perhaps led to a case of him being overshadowed? Still, at only 26, Rome has more than enough time for his music to blow up to the vast extent that it deserves.
