Recording a debut album is a trying experience for many bands, especially when issues of time and money dictate much of the recording process. But for local band Romanenko, all was well until a random stroke of bad luck left the band with a big problem to solve and no immediate solution.

This August, as the band was mixing its record, a burglary at guitarist and vocalist Jessie Marston’s former home left Romanenko without the money they had saved to pay their studio fees.

“It was a complete fluke,” she said. “The main issue was just being able to buy the actual CDs and get them pressed.”

The incident left the band unsure of how to catapult out of its financial hole, but quick to the rescue was dreamLab Recording, the studio team that recorded the band’s album. According to Marston, Rickson and bassist TJ Machado, without the studio’s generosity and the outpouring of community support, the record may not have been completed at all.

“We were really dumbfounded and very grateful that the community was so responsive and put any faith into what we do,” Rickson said.

The band’s panic was calmed as they wrapped up the recording process and prepared for the release of their first full-length record.

The recording process was novel for the band, whose only prior recording experience was in an improvised home studio several years ago. The band views the record as not only the product of a shared creative vision, but also as a testament to the endurance of the band’s music.

“The oldest song on the record I wrote when I was 15, so some of these songs have been nurtured for a long time,” Marston said. “We’ve been playing almost all of the songs for at least a year.”

Because of this, Rickson said, the record quickly became the “baby” of the band.

“It’s all Romanenko, it all feels like Romanenko, but I think we had the opportunity to layer and do things [with the songs] that we can’t do live. We could really let certain aspects of the music shine,” she said.

Next up for the band is a welcome break from recording and playing, after which they plan to write, play locally and possibly play some weekend shows throughout the region.