It's All Smiles

No Rome hadn’t planned to make his debut album back in his home country. He was supposed to be in the Philippines only for a festival appearance, but the artist born Guendoline Rome Viray Gomez found himself stranded there after the pandemic kicked in. He opted to use the creative restrictions imposed by the fact that most of his gear was back at home in London as a creative challenge, though. It’s All Smiles is the exhilarating result. “I only had what I had brought over, which was a couple of samplers, a drum machine, a guitar and an interface,” he tells Apple Music. “I only had X amount of possibilities, but I wanted to stretch that out.” Working with co-producers BJ Burton and The 1975’s George Daniel, he has crafted a debut album that melds layers of guitar with synth-pop and smooth hooks—not for nothing did No Rome once describe his original sound as “shoegaze R&B”. He says there’s a recurrent theme of “belongingness” throughout It’s All Smiles, a feeling that is lonely, aggressive and hopeful all at the same time. “I wanted to express whatever I was going through at the time. Being in the Philippines was very therapeutic for me; things started feeling nostalgic.” Here, No Rome takes us through It’s All Smiles, track by track. “Space-Cowboy” “I knew this was going to be the intro because it set up the whole idea of the album with the production, the whole nocturnal setting because I was writing everything at night. The title is a reference to one of my favourite animes, Cowboy Bebop. It’s this line ‘See you, space cowboy,’ which I’ve always resonated with for some reason.” “How Are You Feeling?” “I wanted to make a record that had drum ’n’ bass and rock being mashed up together. This was at the right tempo to bring in some kind of jungle drums, along with the guitar that was a little bit bright and melodic. For me, it sounded a bit like being around the alleys of New York, hearing street musicians and how everything is so busy.” “I Want U” “I feel like thi