I’m not one to follow artists when they split off to pursue a solo career. It seems they usually lack the magic of the original act. Much like diet soda, it’s so close to what I want but just not the same. So, last year, when Rome Ramirez announced he was leaving Sublime to focus on his solo career, I figured that would be the last I heard from him. But as fate would have it, I stumbled upon his new EP, “Gemini,” in my feed and couldn’t resist giving it a go for old times' sake. It filled me with glee to find that Rome can deliver a better version of what he was giving us with Sublime all on his own.
I am a diehard Sublime with Rome fan, there is no denying that, but even I have to admit that near the end, the band wasn’t the same. They were pulling away from the reggae sound that fans came for, replacing it with a more alternative/lo-fi style, which they did well, but it just wasn’t what I wanted to hear. I expected Rome to continue in this direction with his EP, but he actually backtracked and turned the reggae up to ten. What we get is a mixture of alt-reggae-rock, which isn’t quite like anything I’ve heard before. It’s like ska if you took out the punk bite and replaced it with something more mellow, which has always been a big point of contention when it comes to Rome.
The biggest difference between Bradley Nowell’s Sublime and Sublime with Rome is the attitude. With Bradley, it was aggressive and in your face: sex, drugs, and reggae, and if you didn’t like it, he would introduce you to his wooden baseball bat. Rome, on the other hand, has always brought a calm attitude to the music. With him, it matured beyond the youthful wrath of Bradley into something that would appeal to the band's now adult audience. He sings of a here and now where the reckless abandon of the past has been left behind for a life of love, stability, and gratitude. "Gemini" is a continuation of this. Rome gives a peek into the reality of his life rather than writing songs that have no meaning to him, just because they sound like something Nowell would have written.
On "Gemini," those gut-wrenching lyrics are paired with some of the best reggae music I have heard in the last few years. The genre is in a weird place right now, where new music is either rigid and scared to venture outside of purist reggae, or so experimental you would hardly guess that it’s supposed to be reggae at all. Rome has found a middle ground where you hear the songs and immediately catch that kicked-back island vibe, but you still get enough flavor added to each song to keep it from sounding like five identical tracks. I struggle to think of a single release in the 2020s that compares to “Gemini.” It’s in a class all its own. This is what you put on on a groggy Tuesday morning to accompany your drive to work. It’s real and more raw than a pound of fresh hamburger. It’s something anybody who has ever gotten up to go to a day job they can’t stand to support the ones they hold dear can relate to on a tremendously personal level.
If you were a fan of Sublime with Rome, then “Gemini” is one you cannot afford to skip. I’ll lay a five down, saying that anyone who was a fan of Rome’s work with Sublime will fall in love with this EP. The only drawback is that it’s just five songs long. Luckily, there’s enough substance to it to warrant listening to it several times over just to see what you missed the last time.
