Dan Romer

Born in New York and based in Los Angeles, Dan Romer is a producer, songwriter, and film composer known for his production credits on chart-dominating pop hits and score work for revered and acclaimed movies. Romer began his career in music production when he graduated in 2004 from the Conservatory of Music's studio production program. He went on to establish a name for himself working alongside unique, creative, and successful artists. In the late 2000s, Romer lent his talents to producing indie pop singer/songwriter Jenny Owen Youngs' debut full-length, Batten the Hatches, and her sophomore effort, Transmitter Failure. Both records were commended for their innovative approach to songwriting and both Romer and Youngs' decision to not opt for the saturated over-production style that had started to become popular elsewhere within the genre. In 2009, he worked with folk-pop artist Ingrid Michaelson on her fourth album, Everybody. Work increased for the multi-talented composer, as he landed a production credit on power pop trio Jukebox the Ghost's third record, Safe Travels, in 2012. His work on the album was praised, with many citing how accurately Romer captured the band's dynamic sound and style on disc. The producer went on to work on high-charting releases such as the Is There Anybody Out There? album by New York-based songwriter duo A Great Big World. The effort included the single "Say Something," which featured Christina Aguilera on lead vocals. The track peaked on the American Billboard charts and gained further exposure after Aguilera performed it on the U.S. version of The Voice. Romer went on to collaborate with the duo again on their follow-up release, When the Morning Comes, in 2015. The late 2000s also saw him make his entrance into the world of film composition when he was employed to create the scores for the award-winning short films Glory at Sea, The Life and Death of Tommy Chaos and Stacey Danger, and Death to the Tinman. The move proved to be a bold one for Romer, eventually landing more work composing the score for his first feature film, the Oscar-nominated drama Beasts of the Southern Wild, in 2012. He went on to produce the critically acclaimed and revered score for the 2015 war drama Beasts of No Nation. The film's soundtrack was praised for its eclectic use of ambiguous instruments rather than just a straightforward, string-oriented score; Romer worked with sound designers to conduct aural experiments such as constructing glass harps out of wine glasses filled with various volumes of water and a drum kit made up of assorted string instruments. Romer's scores for Joe Swanberg's comedy-drama Digging for Fire and the crime drama series Sneaky Pete also arrived in 2015. In 2016, he helped co-produce the single "Treat You Better" by Canadian singer/songwriter Shawn Mendes, another chart hit. ~ Rob Wacey