Presently I have a very particular flag atop my fortress of music, and one of the stars on that flag belongs to Matthew Ryan. my favourite bands still are, artists like The Alarm, The Blasters, The Clash, Elvis Costello, Prince, The Replacements, The Smiths, Springsteen, U2, The Waterboys, X…while diverse in sound and presentation, each brought something to the fore in their work, an urgency, a commitment, a sense they were communing with like-minded souls in whose hearts their work would find homes. C.S. Lewis said, “we read to know we are not alone.” These bands served this same purpose. Their albums were, and still are comfort and company, necessity and sustenance.
Matthew Ryan continues to be one of the few artists creating great music out of our strange historical moment, struggling to provide us with understanding, catharsis, faith, hope, and beauty out of unsettling times. Now, he is releasing a new EP, Fallen Ash & Embers.
Now Springsteen of course reaches back to the Sixties, as this was when he began writing and performing with bands like The Castiles and Steel Mill, but these other artists so dear to my heart also reach back to this pivotal decade regardless of their age. The Sixties gave us a naïve and hopeful idea that rock music could change our lives, and the world, that it was worthy of our passion and devotion, that it was on par with any other art form – film, literature, photography, etc.
Which brings us to Matthew Ryan. It wasn’t enough that May Day, released in 1997, was a near-perfect debut, he covered The Waterboys’ “We Will Not Be Lovers.” His version packed all the wallop of the original, and I knew we would be fellow travelers. In the more than twenty years since May Day, Ryan has produced album after album of the kind of rock music we bastards of young were weaned on: earnest and honest, impassioned and propulsive, melodic and, above all else, thoughtful. In the context of a rock and roll song, perhaps this means some things hurt more than cars and girls? That the speech of the heart is inarticulate? More than two decades on Matthew Ryan continues to rock the Casbah.
The three-song EP is “inspired by the moment we’re in, but not tied to. It’s more interested in who we’ll be after this fever breaks.”
The first song on the EP asks the question “Are You the Matador?” The song came out of a poem Ryan wrote that he later matched to music written by Doug Lancio that Ryan describes as “Spanish noir.” Ryan explains that he offers the song of “inclusion” with “acknowledgement, affection, thanks and welcoming to Hispanic and Latino people, and their cultures.”
Ryan’s got a new maxi-single out, “On Our Death Day” (he says it’s not as dark as it sounds), which also includes a Leonard Cohen cover and B-Side, “And It’s Such a Drag” (there should always be a B-Side). He’s also got an ongoing electronica collaboration, Summer Kills, with Nashville neighbors Marc Byrd and Andrew Thompson of Hammock , He just goes marching on. Hear his sound, hear his voice, he’s growing stronger… “There’s always a good fight and beauty available,” he says. “part of my mission has been to dismantle mythology and still be lit up by mystery.”
Stereo Embers Magazine
“And It’s Such A Drag (2019 Band Version)” was Performed by Doug Lancio, Kelley Looney, Matthew Ryan and Aaron “The A-Train” Smith
Fallen Ash & Embers will be released October 4th, 2019
The Fat Angel Sings 