Romare

Archie Fairhurst, the U.K.-based electronic producer, selected Romare as his working name to honor African-American artist, author, and songwriter Romare Bearden. His unconventional house and downtempo productions, together with the artwork on his releases, honor multiple Black musical traditions and celebrated figures. After two EPs built around samples and the 2015 debut album Projections, he shifted toward greater use of live instrumentation on later projects, among them the disco-oriented 2016 release Love Songs, Pt. 2 and Home, which appeared in 2020.

While studying African-American visual culture at university, Fairhurst moved from drums and guitar to sample-based productions that stretched from downtempo house to rapid footwork. Bristol’s Black Acre label issued his earliest material. Meditations on Afrocentrism (2012) and Love Songs, Pt. 1 (2013) came packaged in sleeves featuring collages of predominantly Black figures and included tracks titled “The Blues (It Began in Africa)” and “Your Love (You Give Me Fever).” Airplay from BBC DJs Gilles Peterson and Benji B, among others, led to a contract with Ninja Tune. The “Roots”/“Pusherman” single surfaced in 2014, followed by the full-length Projections in 2015. Love Songs, Pt. 2 arrived the next year, combining disco and psychedelic samples with Fairhurst’s own keyboard, guitar, and bass contributions. He maintained a full touring schedule that mixed live-band performances with solo DJ appearances. Live Sessions 1, an EP of single-take versions of tracks from his second album, was released in 2017. The DJ-friendly single “Gone”/“Danger” followed in 2019. Third album Home, recorded in the artist’s home studio in the English countryside, was issued in 2020.