Rob Allen
Toronto, Ontario, Canada | Established. Jan 01, 2015 | AFM
Music
Press
Rob Allen is a singer-songwriter from Toronto, Ontario. In September 2015, he released his 8 track debut album entitled Norman, Take a Knee.
When listening to Norman, Take a Knee, I was intrigued in the plugged down nature of the album. Even when a song is not slower in pace, it was easy to envision it being played around a campfire acoustically away from the greater society. Yet, lyrically it goes beyond such and tackles more sociologically intriguing questions of the definition of ‘success. This is exemplified in the track “Routine City.”
The tracks standing out the most for me on Norman, Take a Knee were “All The Bridges That I’ve Burned,” “Borrowed Heart,” and “Routine City.” However, I found that the entire album is enjoyable to listen to. - Canadian Beats
Discography
Norman, Take a Knee
Photos
Bio
Being new to the Toronto music scene, Rob Allen (formerly Rob Jankowski) brings a slightly different perspective having spent several years in a corporate 9-5 job. His approach to music is to focus on the fact that it should be a fun, inexpensive, and accessible way to bring people together.
His debut 8-song album Norman, Take a Knee focuses largely on taking time to pursue individual goals and not getting bogged down in the classic societal definition of success (as is exemplified by the track "Routine City"). Recorded independently, in a basement, in his spare time, and on a limited budget makes this debut album impressive in its relatively high production value. However, as Canadian Beats Music blog noted, it retains its simplistic roots as, “it was easy to envision it being played around a campfire acoustically”.
Staying consistent in his focus to create affordable and engaging
entertainment, he created a series of shows called The Jukebox Show
wherein which he solicits song suggestions leading up to the show and then
plays an entire set of selections from this list (allowing you to turn him into
a jukebox for the evening). He has also played other key shows around Toronto
at classic venues such as Lee’s Palace and the legendary Horseshoe
Tavern.
When playing shows, his backing band, The
Goodbye Men, consists of Tim Bones on drums, Sean Trudeau on
guitar, Paul Penney on bass, and Reuven Grajner on keys.
Band Members
Links
