TheRomanGianarthur

"Then I had the great privilege of seeing Roman perform live in Philly when he opened for Janelle Monáe's The Electric Lady Tour last year. As soon as Roman stepped on stage, with his fly hat cocked to the side and his equally stylish band, I knew the audience was in for a treat. Philly audiences are usually tough to impress, but after Roman rightfully took ownership of classic songs from the likes of Stevie Wonder, Lauryn Hill and Erykah Badu, we all wanted more. " - SoulBounce

Dig into the credits for Janelle Monáe's Afrofuturistic adventures The ArchAndroid and The Electric Lady, and Roman GianArthur's imprint — a mix of influences ranging from Stevie Wonder to Ennio Morricone — reveals itself. A key member of Monáe's Warhol-esque Wondaland Arts Society, the formidable vocalist, producer, arranger and multi-instrumentalist dropped a swanky verse on Jidenna's viral "Classic Man" and helped sculpt this year's Wondaland Presents: The Eephus EP. Now GianArthur's sensitive rocker aura is finally front-and-center on OK Lady, a six-song EP of Radiohead covers delivered through a D'Angelo filter. GianArthur's introduction to the British art-rockers was during his studies at Wake Forest. A friend from his a capella group played him OK Computer, and "Paranoid Android" immediately registered. "I was like, 'What the fuck is this?'" he recalls. "That was the moment that I fell in love with Radiohead." In 2012, GianArthur was learning the guitar via the video game Rocksmith, and the first song he mastered was "High and Dry." After a deep D'Angelo discussion with Wondaland bandmate Chuck Lightning, the idea to fuse the two artists' styles crystallized. His version of "High and Dry" is slowed down to a meditative crawl and pairs elegantly with patches of Voodoo's "Send It On." GianArthur says he has sold about 500 copies of OK Lady demos hand-to-hand before the EP's official release — currently available for free. - The Rolling Stones