Hyper-Romantic

Hyper-Romantic is the brainchild of DC-based singer/songwriter, producer and DJ Rich Morel. 

After years of releasing a string of successful club singles (“Funny Car”, “Cabaret”, “Shoegazer Disco”, “Anymore, Anymore” and “True”) and three critically-acclaimed studio albums – Queen Of The Highway (2002), Lucky Strike (2004) and The Death Of The Paperboy (2009) as Morel; collaborating with top artists like Yoko Ono, New Order, Depeche Mode, Cyndi Lauper, The Killers, Pet Shop Boys, Scissor Sisters, Deep Dish and, most recently, U.S. Girls; forming (and touring with) his post-punk group Deathfix (with Fugazi drummer Brendan Canty), whose self-titled 2013 debut was released on influential indie imprint Dischord Records earning them a coveted slot at Coachella; and recording and touring as Blowoff – Morel’s DJ and musical partnership with US punk pioneer Bob Mould (of Hüsker Dü/Sugar); Rich decided it was time to do something new. 

Morel wanted to write about romanticism – in both a musical and lyrical sense – and by the start of the year, he had written and recorded several new songs that would become the basis for an exciting new project he envisioned as a collaboration with different artists and musicians.  

Now Hyper-Romantic.

Hyper-Romantic’s first release “Millennial Heart” features inimitable “trip-hop” siren and Tricky/Massive Attack collaborator Martina Topley-Bird. Topley-Bird’s captivating vocals envelope the song’s minimal house production. 

“Millennial Heart” is a song about different generations coming together in these unstable times. The accompanying video, with animation by Scott G. Brooks, brings the point home.  Fascist trains, corporate mechanical cock roaches shitting on the planet and Gestapo police men made of bricks and hammers are all derailed by millennial hearts. 

Morel plans to collaborate with Brooks on all future Hyper-Romantic releases to create an ongoing audio/visual conversation and audience engagement with the various themes and moods the project will explore. 

Recent Morel Press: 

Hyper-Romantic “Millennial Heart” in  Black Book