Customer Reviews

Matthew Ryan vs. the Silver State [Vinyl]

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It was the summer we were living in Paris. The early evening was sunny and warm, and I had a business dinner a mile down the Seine, so I walked. For company, I had my iPod. I plugged in my professional-grade headphones, dialed up Matthew Ryan's most recent CD, Regret Over the Wires, and started walking.

It wasn't long before I was weeping for joy. All the planets were aligned. I was off to meet a prestigious client at a chic restaurant, and then I'd go home --- in Paris! --- to my wife and child. Work, money, love. All present. And, linking them, was beauty: Matthew Ryan's music, which was wise about the struggle for happiness and wiser still about tunes and lyrics you just can't shake.

And you probably have never heard of Matthew Ryan.

This is a good time to discover him --- Matthew Ryan Vs. The Silver State may be his best effort yet. The lyrics range from the merely gorgeous ("And in pulling off her scarf/ I let go/ It floated like a wounded bird/ Her mouth the shape of Spanish words") to ordinary self-loathing ("I'm living on Jupiter/ I couldn't feel stupider"). And the music can be so anthemic and ebullient that, when the Irish-sounding violin kicks in, our little girl dances a gig.

Think: Leonard Cohen meets The Clash, Bruce Springsteen meets Nick Drake.

I could bang on at length about Matthew Ryan as a life-enhancer whose hand-carved music will do wonders for your disposition, but you'll do better to sample his work and read my conversation with him. He's a man with ideas, and determination, and a real set of values, and that comes out in his talk as surely as it does in his music.

Prepare to be challenged. And rewarded. And, if you're lucky, moved to tears with the pleasure of discovering a great talent.

JK: You're 36, but you've had your share of blows. Before your last CD, From A Late Night High Rise, your brother was sentenced to 30 years in jail. I think of that Sly Stone verse: "One child grows up to be/ Somebody that just loves to learn/ Another child grows up to be/ Somebody you'd just love to burn." Is that the story here?

MR: A strange invisible hand led to different attractions. My brother's trouble started when he was 12. I loved songs and fumbled with chords. I couldn't learn to play other's songs. So I started writing my own.

JK: Around the same time as your brother went inside, you lost a close friend to cancer.

MR: She was great, so smart, so funny, and she died so young. She was a real emotional champion for me, so her loss was huge to me. And her family, of course.

JK: Two losses. And now this CD. "Brighter" is too simple --- your singing still suggests a whispered confessional and your words still invite thought. Let's start with the title: Matthew Ryan Vs The Silver State. Of course you mean Nevada.

MR: Yes.

JK: And, I suspect, more.

MR: I'm like a collector of weather. I only care about how a song or idea makes me feel. "Vs. The Silver State" felt like it meant something to me before I intellectualized it.

JK: Take me through the steps.

MR: Las Vegas is in Nevada...and the desolation of the desert...all that beauty and the starkness, the opportunity and the risk. There it is, it rises up in the middle of nowhere. And people go there to gain or lose everything. There's a greater metaphor in that. We're doing it with our country right now.

JK: And how about individuals as gamblers --- like singer-songwriters, for example, who gamble with their careers?

MR: Yeah, and as individuals. I'm gambling with my life. Art is a risky occupation, but so is pretending to be someone else. Every song I write brings some new sense of electricity. I feel connected to a greater story when I write.

JK: How do you write?

MR: Seamus Heaney described how, for Wordsworth, writing was a physical thing, with a pace and rhythm --- Wordsworth walking up and down a path. When I read that, I was relieved. I didn't feel so strange. I write when my mind, heart or soul is determined to communicate something. Some days, language just runs like streetlights, and they come with a melody.

JK:"Your mascara was born to run" --- funny.

MR: That line feels brave to me. In my own sense of how I'm perceived, Springsteen is a monument. When I first wrote it, I didn't want to use it. I am relentlessly compared to Bruce. It's daunting and not really fair. I'm writing my own stories in a different time. That line rings true to me. Clearly it's a nod. But more importantly, I know that girl, I kissed her a long time ago. And I guess I wanted to offer my own peace with the constant Springsteen comparisons. I love his work, but I have no desire to be him.

JK: Your singing has been compared to passionate whispering. Did you always sing that way?

MR: No. I started out imitating Richard Butler from the Psychedelic Furs. I wanted that raw sexuality. He just sounded cool to me. Like a likable devil.

JK: The day your singing changed?

MR: I remember it, because I felt it. When you sing like I do, you get a rumble in your lower midsection. It's a whisper, but a loud whisper. Kind of like when a jet rumbles in the distance --- it's like a come on.

JK: A come on for smart adults. Maybe that's why you seem too sharp for the room. So spell it out for the lip-readers among us: What are you trying to do in these songs?

MR: Art is the wisdom we're not handed. I'm trying to collect it. I'm trying to offer comfort and hope to anyone in need. Living, being human, it can get dark. I'm always trying to encourage the good fight and a sense of connection. I hope that the "I" in my songs becomes "we."

JK: Is that glass half-full or half-empty?

MR: That depends on the weather!

JK: Wait a minute: We're talking about 4-minute rock songs!

MR: In my mind, there's enough entertainment out there. I wanna save somebody.

JK: Have you considered just enjoying yourself?

MR: No...I'm kidding. But I grew up loving important music, big music. I mean, music that made you want to sack the government or protest or jump out of an airplane. Bands like The Clash or U2 --- this was music full of idealism versus struggle and hard realities. But I couldn't help but sense it was useful because it pushed you to imagine things more equal, more humane, more possible.

JK: You're making me nervous. Underneath this, I don't hear any sense of: I've made 11 records, I'm on my 6th label, dammit, I want a hit!

MR: First off, I want to offer something useful. I think "London Calling" made a contribution.

JK: "London Calling" was a hit!

MR: Look, I'd love a hit. But to me it's meaningless if it's playing silly or vapid music. To me, a great song is like when you walk through fog, you get a mist on the skin. You may not even fully understand what a song is going on about. But that mist sticks with you, maybe it moves you along.

JK: Mist is ghostly, spectral. Is your ambition is to be the secret influence, the most important person no one knows: Zorro, Superman?

MR: You're nailing me. I always felt that fame was a decision. And I decided that fame isn't worth the risk of losing creativity or humanity. I like the idea of Zorro.

JK: Dude, take the risk!

MR: Hey, I was raised Protestant Irish, the unromantic part of being Irish. It's a mess.

We're the iPod generation - and we've made music the soundtrack of our lives. Every spare 5 minutes I get, I will be listening to music - at work, home, in the car, on the train... it's an escape from the everyday hustle. Music is a character that we interact with and "MRVSS" has an unusual amount of character in it.

Since "May Day" was released in 1997, Matthew Ryan has been operating just beneath the radar, but you can see the waves he makes because those who have heard him hold him in high regard. Patient and persistent is Matthew Ryan's greatest strengths. World weary and wise are two words I'd associate with Ryan. His songs ache with sorrow, regret and hope all at the same time. He speaks with wisdom beyond his years, through a grit and reality heard in Springsteen, Waits and Cohen, but listening closer, you can hear The Clash and The Replacements.

Having made 11 records to date, he is both instrumental and prolific. Most importantly, he is human. Having dealt with close personal issues on "From a Late Night High Rise" and "Strays Don't Sleep" (a collaboration with Neilson Hubbard) it is clear that he needs to write songs as much as we need to hear them. This is where Ryan differs from other songwriters. There is a great deal of hope in his songs. We listen to his songs looking for an escape, but we leave being much happier with the decisions we've made, we are confident in ourselves and rock and roll can still change the world.

"MRVSS" has a live sound to it, and the band has a rock and roll spirit. The violin on opener "Dulce Et Decorum Est" cuts an Irish feel, but "American Dirt" weighs a strong melody with a biting lyric. "Hold On Firefly" and "Drunk & Disappointed" wouldn't look out of place on any punk records. "MRVSS" is not without its more delicate moments, "Jane, I Still Feel The Same" (featured on One Tree Hill) and "I Only Want To Be The Man You Want" both offer a change of pace. My own personal favourite is the concluding track, "Closing In" - full of junk and regret, with so much hope in the chorus, the song threatens to float away.

This collection of songs is saying life is good. Not perfect, but does it matter?

Oh, and what's Matthew Ryan's beef with the Silver State?

I've loved Matthew Ryan's music since the beginning. MRVSS reinforces everything I've ever loved about Matthew Ryan. And his new band adds a great new dimension without changing the core of Ryan's musical style.

The driving bass and percussion with almost circular repetitive rhythms provides an excellent foundation to Ryan's poignant words and wonderfully broken vocals.

There's a sense of hopelessness as well as hopefulness about the songs, and it creates a very emotional listening experience. I'm tapping my foot along with a great rhythm while at the same time, I'm feeling tears well up in my eyes. And while none of the songs are conventionally "hooky," I find myself humming the melodies long after I've stopped listening.

I think this is Ryan's most mature musical effort to date, and it's got a proud place in my MR music collection. Great stuff!

MRVSS packs the haunting melodies and deeply soulful sound that sets Matthew Ryan apart; but the story of these eleven songs is less an individual one than he shared on his last album. While Ryan does share a number of personal moments, I felt decidedly less voyeuristic than when listening to "From a Late Night High Rise". Both experiences are brilliant in their own ways. I feel like he was trying (and I think succeeding) to tap into a collective consciousness. Whether you are trying to make the world a better place or just trying to make sense of life and love, this album screams, "Yeah, I get it. I'm right there with you". The trick, and the beauty, is that in Ryan's view, it's a layered and complex tale. And like a Picasso or a really good book, you may never really fully grasp the artist's intent, but you will undoubtedly find something new and valuable every time you revisit the masterpiece. This one is worth the price of admission and more.

I - embarrassingly - have never heard of Matthew Ryan until plugging into XM radio aboard an AirTran flight (they have complimentary headphones and XM). After listening to 2 hours of music, 1 song really stood out: Dulce Et Decorum Est. I wrote it down and then visit Ryan's site where this song and 3 more were available for streaming. They instantly penetrated my consciousness. I knew I had to get the album. After listening to the album many times in the past 5 days, I am floored. This is fantastic stuff.

This record is fantastic - full of raw, honest, and intriguing songs that ache with the weight of life, of loss, and even hope. Matthew Ryan is a superb songwriter who has yet to fall into a predictable hole. Each album has seen him mine a different layer and this one, recorded mostly live, has the burned out passion that you may have missed on his recent, more polished and studio honed work. Highlights include Jane, Drunk and Disappointed, It Could Have Been Worse, and American Dirt, but there isn't a weak song in the bunch. Even the cover that closes out the album does its job well. Don't miss this album - then buy the back catalog.

This CD is another perfect 10 (along with "May Day" and "Regret Over The Wires"). Matthew has released another great CD. It has conviction and hope. It is raw, vulnerable and honest! A fine addition for anyone who loves great songwriting.

I have never bought a Matthew Ryan album before, but I bought this one on the strength of its review in Paste Magazine (good magazine by the way). I was not disappointed. Beautiful, haunting, intelligent, and catchy all in one album. If you like Ryan Adams, Bright Eyes, Wilco, etc. you'll probably really like this album.

Matthew Ryan is a flat out great songwriter! And, he has produced another fine set of songs with MRVSS. Musically the album drives along as Ryan's song characters try to sort out the pieces. There's a cinematic feel to the record. I think it's his best record to date and highly recommend it.

MR vs. Silver state is another long line of excellent releases. It ranks as one of his best.
This album touches on different many levels, it covers great songwriting, very cool vibe/ambient music, and a mature yet idealistic/hopeful view of our current state.
Possibly most of all MR can make you both sad and exulted in the same song. It Couldve been worse is such a sad tale, but I catch myself singing along loudly and proudly. Dulce est Decorum...another killer "Heroic in a failing way" who has not thought that about themselves?...anyone who cares about artist integrity in this corporate world should get this idea.
The finale "closing IN" true genius, this song says it all..........Buy this cd now, it may not change your life but it will make it better!