VIA ROMANa

AN ALBUM BY EMANUEL AYVAS

Via Romana is a set of solo piano compositions (and an arrangement of Julio Iglesias’s Abrázame) by Emanuel Ayvas releasing on all platforms October 28th that imagines some daydreamer’s life from their 07:30am wake up to their 11:23pm bedtime.  

The majority of the album was Composed in Florence, Italy in 2019, but Ayvas drew from almost 15 years of improvisations, fragments, and voice memos collected in cities across the world adding, rearranging, and revising the material.

The result is a tight set of piano works that move with a dreamy momentum, twisting and turning in ways reminiscent of the ancient streets in the city where much of the album was conceived.  

Via Romana marks a departure for Ayvas, a classically trained pianist, who is best known for his work as the creative force behind Brooklyn chamber pop mainstays Emanuel and the Fear, synth psych-rock band Pale Ramon, and experimental noise outfit Ayvas and Baller.

Historical Fiction commissioned the album as part of its initiative to give songwriters and composers space to mine untapped creative material in the hopes of answering the question “what if?”.  

The release of Via Romana is the culmination of a year in which Ayvas released a single a week.  Sheet music of the works will be available for purchase along with the recording of the album on October 28th, 2022 digitally or in person at one of Emanuel’s performances across the US and Europe in the coming year.  

Press Inquiries: zack (at) bighassle (dot) com

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Biography

Emanuel Ayvas is a composer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer. his music spans various styles and genres — from chamber pop with his band emanuel and the fear, synth psych-rock with his band pale ramon, and experimental noise music with his group ayvas and baller. In October of 2021, Ayvas started a project releasing a new single every week for a year that will reach completion this fall with what will be almost 60 new singles. As the last singles are coming out, he and historical fiction records will officially release ‘via romana,’ an album of solo piano pieces, which will be his second official release as a solo artist. His first, ‘talk about the weather makes me happy’ was released in the spring of 2022.

Praise for Emanuel’s work:

“Enough orchestral synthesis to make ELO blush.”  -The Guardian

“..It seems as if every member of the Brooklyn-based musical collective comes from a different background, be it jazz, folk, contemporary classical, or even heavy metal. So credit curly-haired frontman Emanuel Ayvas for uniting the troupe under the righteous banner of symphonic rock — and credit every single member of the eclectic collective for agreeing to join forces and create music that immediately registers as ambitious.” – Consequence of Sound

“..The Janus Mirror” sounds just as mind-blowing as the stories Emanuel Ayvas tells. It was not for nothing that Ayvas studied composition. He mixes violins, cello, piano and flutes into the usual band, always looking for the big sound.”  – Rolling Stone

“Remember when indie rock was about stripping down and freaking out? [Emanuel and the Fear] don’t. Fortunately, they’ve got tunes, which always helps the sugar go down.” – Village Voice