Matthew Ryan

Friends & Listeners,  

  

I’m happy to share this new album with you, it’s called A Year of Novembers. It’s available right now right HERE or click on the cover photo just below. I took this photo a year ago this month. I love the feel of this photo, it feels just like the songs. 

  

  

  

  

Now if you want to read more about why I’m taking this approach, please read on… 

  

There’s not “much” I want to say at the moment other than that it felt like the right time to share it with you in the most kind, quiet and effortless way that I could. This music would not have been possible without Doug, Neilson, Dylan, David, Jim, Gillian, Ben, Joe and Ed… Family, friends and love. Mistakes, events and effort. Practice, talents and luck… And you, kind listeners.  

  

  

From what I can tell Bandcamp is the safest place to deliver music to listeners without them ultimately being surveilled or guided into consumption mazes. There is something called too much. I’m having a severe allergic reaction to our culture, have been for years now. I certainly tried in earnest to participate in the fields and empires online, but it just got darker and darker feeling. Social media and all its tentacles and provocations landed opposite of true experience, spaciousness and spirit for me. Even still, meeting many of you was the highlight. I’m in the process of working through what I feel will be the healthiest way to “participate” going forward. A return to social media remains highly unlikely… Yet I still feel compelled to try and express via music the importance of love, reverence, hope and the inner country. It’s the most useful thing I was always trying to offer you anyway.  

  

  

We’ve all been through such a strange and hard time. I feel deeply for all of you who have lost loved ones. It just doesn’t feel like a time for indulgence. It feels like a time for reconsideration and some quiet real works towards things that feel and are better. Things that contribute and build warmth and intimacy, true connectedness.  

  

  

This November 7th marks a big birthday for me. Time moves so quickly. I’d welcome another 50 years. I’m so grateful for all that a love of music and love itself has brought and brings. So many memories, so much lightning. I wanted to mark the occasion of my 50th birthday with the release of A Year of Novembers. It’s my best form of communication with you (at least I think… most of the time…). Nonetheless, the 320 sized MP3s sound wonderful, that’s my suggested file version if you’re unsure what to download.  

  

  

Please note and enjoy the Lyric & Credits Art Page that's included in your purchase and download of A Year of Novembers. It’s there for you to read along on your desktop or tablet if you’re inclined.  

  

  

To be protective of the quiet I’ve been building and reclaiming in my life over the last few years there’s no touring planned in the foreseeable future. There’s also no marketing plan or publicity. Sharing this so directly with you feels like the absolute right thing to do. I also didn’t feel it was necessary to engage in various tactile versions of the album. By sharing it with you directly (and exclusively in its entirety) on Bandcamp I feel I’m sharing it with you in the safest, most effortless fashion possible for all involved. I'm dedicated to defining a kinder life/work balance going forward. I trust you understand.  

  

  

As always, I hope you and yours are good and healthy. I hope these songs and their sound, feel, words and intent build as bright and big a fire for you as they did for us.  

  

  

Stay hopeful and kind.  

  

  

Always,  

M. Ryan

Good morning... 

Hope this message finds you and yours doing well. I'm happy to announce a couple new songs are ready to be shared with you. When you're ready The Song for a Hard Year Maxi-Single is now live and waiting for you to give it a listen. I'm a firm believer in the greatest possible first experience with a song, so please listen when you're ready via some good headphones or in your car, or some proper speakers. A good song can survive an iPhone speaker, but apparently most bass guitars can't.  

Before I go on too long here, I want to thank my dear friend Doug Lancio for his absolutely beautiful and otherworldly slide resonator guitar playing on these songs. That fella has got a wild and true talent. Proud to call him a friend and longtime collaborator. 

The Song for a Hard Year Maxi-Single has 3 songs. 2 new ones, Song for a Hard Year and Swim Like You're on Fire. And a surprise recording of an earlier song that's been walking with me quite a bit lately. 

Below is the cover art for the single. A keen eye in the morning will immediately notice The Pines at Night. That is the "name" I'll be releasing music under for the near future, possibly longer. I explained in my previous email my thoughts on this but the short of it is that I wanted a change that welcomed the collaborative nature of my work with all my friends that give so much of themselves. And obviously, The Pines at Night means something to me, it pretty much describes where I've been... I love that it's conceptual. 

Purchases of The Song for a Hard Year Maxi-Single will go towards the budget for a new album that I'm hoping to make soon. The songs on this maxi-single will NOT be on the forthcoming collection. So if you're moved and compelled to buy the music please let me thank you in advance. 

I hope these songs become good companions for you. 

Always, 

M. Ryan 

PS the 320 sized MP3s sound wonderful (Just a suggestion when Bandcamp  asks you what type of music file you want to download). And for Bandcamp instructions as to how to get your downloaded music into iTunes or Windows Media Player go HERE.

Friends & Listeners, 

My new EP, Life Is Beautiful, is now available for you to hear as intended exclusively via my Bandcamp page. It was released exactly at sunset today here in the central US time zone, 4:33 pm. 

Just a bit before releasing I took a drive to listen for the last time while these songs were just mine. Mine and the beautiful gang that shared their talents to it. It’s always such a beautiful experience as music starts its own life with others. 

Thank you for welcoming this music. 

I wrote these songs over the summer, they’re the first I’ve written on piano from fleck and spark to the final syllable. I don’t how you’ll receive them, I can only hope they become good companions for you. I hope they do. 

This process... Learning piano in a little more detail, going into the room every morning and playing... Sometimes at night.... Not judging the technical aspects or the demands of public music... Just writing what felt natural and important to me, that filled a need. 

Tone poems. In music and words and feel. 

It made my summer a little more beautiful during such a hard time. Always trying to understand. Always hoping a melody can communicate the hope and resilience underneath. 

It’s humble but beautiful to get to share this with you. 

Happy Thanksgiving to you here in the states. And here’s to all the beauty ahead for all of us everywhere if we take more seriously and sacred the value of each of us going forward. We’re capable of so much... 

Beauty. 

Here’s where you can find the music if you’d like to listen (it releases everywhere else online on December 4th) : 

Matthew Ryan - Life Is Beautiful

Always, 
M. Ryan

 

 

Friend's,

We recently performed live on Jesse Malin's livestream, The Fine Art of Self Distancing. You can now enjoy our performance via Youtube or just below. Don't forget our new EP, A Short Film for a Long Story, is now available for purchase on BANDCAMP (we appreciate when you purchase directly form us), and here's a LINK to all the other places online where you can find the collection.

 

A new interview where I go in great detail about each song with Ana Lee at WMOT about the new Strays Don’t Sleep music. 

Go HERE or click the image to read the full interview.