ARTiST : Matthew Ryan
ALBUM : From A Late Night High Rise
LABEL : Plastic Violin
GENRE : Indie
RELEASE : 2007-02-16
STREET : 2006-12-05
ENCODER : LAME 3.90
QUALiTY : 177kbps avg / 44.1kHz / Joint Stereo
SiZE : 65 MB
PLAYTiME : 00:47:12
+ TRACK LiSTiNG +
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[#] [Track Name] [Time]
1. Follow The Leader 4:51
2. And Never Look Back 4:44
3. Babybird 3:40
4. Gone For Good 3:55
5. Providence 4:29
6. Misundercould 4:18
7. Everybody Always Leaves 4:21
8. All Lit Up 5:43
9. Love Is The Silencer 4:04
10. Victory Waltz 3:50
11. June Returns For July 0:27
12. The Complete Family 2:50
47:12
+ RELEASE iNFORMATiON +
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From the first wave of symphonic keyboards to the last utterance of good advice
FROM some accidental RF, From A Late Night High-Rise is a masterful rumination
on mortality and morality. It's an epic to behold.
Matthew Ryan has wandered around the edges for years now. Originally perceived
as an alt-country troubadour, Ryan has slowly made his case for a more
adventurous and cinematic American Singer/Songwriter. You get the feeling he
doesn't care much for anything that resembles a hollow victory. He's clearly
chosen the hard way. From major labels to small labels to indie labels to DIY
and back again; he continues to follow some stubborn compass that keeps him
quietly searching for his version of perfect weather in a song. All the while
amassing a loyal following, a growing resume of film and television placements
and a mountain of critical acclaim.
From A Late Night High-Rise is a movie without film, it's a novel without a
book. It's absolutely beautiful, precise and unflinching. It's music that glows
like a city from high up in an airplane- first appearing alien, then blooming
completely human. Shaken by the sentencing of his brother to 30 years in prison
and the death of a dear friend, Ryan took to recording and writing songs on his
Korg D16 Porta Studio to cope with his grief. "Follow The Leader","Gone for
Good", "Love Is The Silencer","Victory Waltz" and "The Complete Family" were all
recorded at home. Those recordings were the seeds that would become From A Late
Night High-Rise.
Eventually, Ryan took what he had to Neilson Hubbard's studio. At the time, Ryan
and Hubbard were compatriots in a side-project called Strays Don't Sleep. It was
there that Ryan and Hubbard sculpted and fine-tuned the sonic emotionalism that
implores From A Late Night High-Rise into such a cohesive thread. Other members
of Strays Don't Sleep came in from to time to contribute as well - Brian
Bequette offered some of his signature distorted beauty on guitar, while Steve
Latanation and Billy Mercer (Strays Don't Sleep's rhythm section) brought their
rock and rumble to tracks that begged for something a bit more desperate (most
notably: "Misundercould" and "Love Is The Silencer"). Ryan recruited Kate York
to be the heroine to speak; she had contributed beautifully to the Ryan penned
and sung Strays Don't Sleep underground hit "For Blue Skies." Since these songs
were of the same cloth, Ryan wanted York to play the female lead again. And
York's voice delivers here with an ease and resonance that is masterful.
In many ways From A Late Night High-Rise is a song cycle, or dare I say, a
concept record. But like all great stories it blurs around the edges and deals
in an intimate universality that allows for interpretation. The "I" and the
"You" in these songs become anyone, maybe even everyone. It goes from bravely
autobiographical (particularly in the spoken word cinema of "The Complete
Family"), to beautifully impressionistic ("Everybody Always Leaves") without
ever interrupting its flow. Even a cover of Grant McClennan and Steven Kilby's
sublime "Providence" eases by like a sibling to Ryan's compositions. All the
more amazing is how the music forms an arc along with the story. From lush,
precise arrangements to DIY utilitarianism, nothing interrupts the story.
It's impossible to distill such a cohesive rumination on mortality and morality
for you. Give From A Late Night High-Rise a focused listen. Let it wash over
you, follow the story like you would a great movie's plot, and be surprised by
the hard-won beauty and optimism that the ending offers.
http://www.matthewryanonline.com