Hey friends,
It’s been 3 months since I entered anything into this blog, and oh how things have changed dramatically, even in that relatively short period.
The most immediately thrilling and relevant news is that I’m now co-writing and co-producing my album with my friend Colin Darcy. Colin is a multi-faceted musician with a really solid ear for music production of all different genres. I’m immeasurably excited to be working with him. He’s brought me closer to songwriting and the philosophy surrounding it than ever before. This album had been moving at a snail’s pace since it’s inception, and he’s already got the ball rolling quite quickly on some tracks. I’m eagerly awaiting to see what we can accomplish together. I think we are the perfect team to assemble my first full-length forthcoming album.
Aside from aiding my musical ambitions, Colin has really opened my mind to lots of other steps to make music into a career – something that my mind doesn’t often visit because of how much of a pipedream I see it as. I feel so arrogant if I remotely suggest to myself that this could be a full-time job. There are so many other great musicians struggling to make a buck – why me? I guess my answer is – as he’s encouraged, why not?
With this album, I’m aiming to marry the electronic sounds of synthesizers, drum machines, talk boxes, etc with the organic sounds of drum kits, guitars, vocals. As an interesting twist, inspired by Deru, I’ve been hypothesizing ways to make the inorganic sounds feel more like organic instruments and the organic sounds feel more synthesized. I want to explain my thought process here, but during the recording process, I’ll document it all heavily so other producers can take a crack at it if they like the sounds I’ve obtained.
Finally, to get in the right mood for this album, I’ve curated a playlist listening diet in iTunes to keep myself entertained by albums that inspire me – for sound reasons or arrangement reasons. Some of these albums include:
- Currents, Tame Impala
- Tremors, SOHN
- Hesitation Marks, Nine Inch Nails
- Passive Me, Aggressive You, The Naked & Famous
- Junk, M83
- Phase, Jack Garratt
- Audio, Video, Disco, Justice
- Narrow Stairs, Death Cab for Cutie
- Born in the Echoes, The Chemical Brothers
- The Suburbs, Arcade Fire
- Walls, Apparat
While I won’t share the album before it’s finished, put these albums on shuffle with each other and you might start to get the feeling as to where mine will sit.
Thanks as always. I appreciate you all very much,
Ryan