Kneejerk RXN : Matthew Ryan : Matthew Ryan Vs The Silver State

I have a monkey on my back named Matthew Ryan. At this point, I have deleted more words about that guy than I care to remember. His latest (eleventh!) release, Matthew Ryan Vs. The Silver State, has been out since the beginning of April, but as much as I listened to it, I just couldn't bring myself to write about the record. To be honest, I initially wasn't impressed. Yet, something kept dragging me back. The more I listened, the more I found to like and subsequently, the more I agonized over why this record was so engaging. Yes, if I were in a relationship with MRVSS, we would be in therapy.

At this point, I've basically decided that MRVSS's greatest strength is the fact that Ryan has allowed himself to simply make a Matthew Ryan record. It sounds easy, but it takes an incredibly confident artist to pull something like that off. A musical wallflower, MRVSS never calls attention to itself, preferring to creep slowly into your consciousness. This is as pure a rock-n-roll record as you are likely to find released by a guy not named Springsteen, and the production (courtesy of Ryan and longtime collaborator/guitarist Doug Lancio, who has also done time with Steve Earle) thankfully, plays it straight. The songs are concise, yet never seem to be in too much of a hurry to reach their ultimate destination, while the performances are loose without becoming muddled; more Tom Petty's Heartbreakers than Grateful Dead.

Lyrically, Ryan eschews the lyrical gymnastics that often plague his peers (you know who you are) in favor of the simple and concise. Many of his lyrics seem at first blush rudimentary, but soon reveal themselves to be powerful, naked expressions of universal human emotions: the anger of Drunk And Disappointed, the hope of It Could've Been Worse. I'm a big enough man to admit that Jane, I Still Feel The Same is one of the simplest and most poignant songs I have heard in ages, even if it was used on an episode of One Tree Hill.

It has been suggested to me (by no less an authority than my ladyfriend) that Ryan's voice can be grating, but I never get that. If anything, I think, that while his pedestrian voice will never land him on American Idol, it further casts Ryan as Everyman and is well-suited for the captivating tales of quiet desperation that occupy the record. MRVSS might just be the Darkness On The edge Of Town for kids raised on Space Invaders, Let It Be (as imagined by the Mats' instead of the lads from Liverpool), Family Ties and (gasp!) Applebee's. Looking forward to catching his June 22nd stop in Minneapolis.

Matthew Ryan - Drunk and Disappointed

Matthew Ryan On Tour:

6/12 Houston, TX - The Continental Club w/ Jon Dee Graham
6/13 Dallas, TX - House Of Blues - The Cambridge Room w/ Jon Dee Graham
6/14 Austin, TX - The Cactus Cafe
6/16 St. Louis, MO - Off Broadway
6/17 Columbia, MO - Mojo’s
6/19 Newport/Cincinnati, KY - Southgate House
6/20 Madison, WI - High Noon Saloon
6/22 Minneapolis, MN - The Fine Line Music Cafe w/ Josh Joplin

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