Joey Ryan

Fracture


Angela Macari O'Looney


Joey Ryan hails from Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford and has worked hard to develop his acoustic based songs. His influences include Bruce Springsteen, Clive Barnes, Willie Nelson, Django Reinhardt and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Previously a member of South-East Metal band Cronus, Joey has been pursuing a new independent songwriting career.

Fracture is his second album, with a rock/roots and blues feel, while his earlier CD Hope in Razorbeams reflected his major influences and sold well locally.
This newer collection of songs is performed with conviction and passion. His guitar playing ability alone commands the ear of the listener!

what's left

It's the instrumental intro and the interesting kaleidoscope of sounds such as crazy bass, mayhem of discords and Joey's jazzy vocals that get you in this number.
Complex but quite impressive, it wakes up the senses for the rest of the album!

If you cared

Beginning with a slow acoustic guitar intro, this is a song about going ‘away from love'
or making a fresh start.
The sweet guitar notes dominate here, drum input creating the backdrop. Further on in the song things pick up, then it goes back to the trickling intro and Joey singing the mournful chorus.

Side

In this number you have yet again some delightful acoustic guitar in the intro, carefully blended with electric background sounds. It has a haunting melody line which is helped by an electric guitar which does snatches here and there. I like the chorus, even though it is quite a moody song.

Fracture

The title track is full of energy with eclectic guitar throughout, lots of cymbal crashing for drama and a splash of harmony, which lends to the big complex cacophony of sound!

A catchy riff gives this song an edge, making it the most memorable piece on the album. Bass is exquisite, plus that electric guitar solo which his very elaborate!

5 Times

The Spanish guitar intro in this song is totally riveting. I particularly like the way that later on the electric guitar takes over, doing complex lead and creating a sense of tragedy.
It returns to the classical/flamenco acoustic guitar notes.

Falling away

The chorus in this song is quite catchy. However I feel that Joey's vocals take on a tuneless quality at times, which I don't like.
The musical arrangement and guitars are so nice and make up for this to a certain extent.

The next song Knives pretty much takes on the same tone, with impressive guitars and lots of dramatic drums. A lead solo that is astounding and haunting scream effects create interest too. But I can't feel comfortable with his vocal style at all. It needs some kind of redirection or perhaps a female backing voice to enhance these beautiful pieces.

Shore is a song with lots of trickling acoustic guitar. I feel that here Joey's voice tends to pick up. It suits his range better and things definitely improve from here to the end of the album. I commend him as a guitarist, songwriter and performer in general. If you like moody, pouring out your soul music, this album has it all!

Joey keeps the best till last. The second last track This cold wind has a lovely chorus, with guitar that takes my breath away.

Finally Lost Open Road is probably my second favourite song on this album. A big orchestra, those fluently played guitar notes and a truly sweet melody line lift this to a different level than the other tracks.

Daniel Henderson performed drums on this album, except on the last track where Joey himself plays drums. All guitars, bass and vocals are performed by Joey.
I believe that Joey is more of a musician and songwriter, than a singer. But if you look around at acts such as R.S.A.G., this is the type of alternative style that appeals to the current music market.

With such a remarkable talent for producing his own original sound and his flawless guitar finesse, I give him top marks and hope to see his star rise in the near future.







Review written by: Angela Macari O'Looney --

Hey,

Just a bit of a general update on things.
Going for a practice on some new songs with the maestro Dan H tomorrow.
Gonna see how they turn out, play em live see the reaction and so on... So far 'Ghost' and 'Ten thousand gallons' are doing well now and are my openers to my set.
Bit different from the Fracture songs, more focusing on the power of the song itself as opposed to relying on the power of distortion, which was plentiful on Fracture!
Still on the Fracture campaign however, so usually stick in 4 songs from that album at a gig.
Good news on the Fracture front too, have to get more printed which is brilliant, cos they are selling pretty well for what it is (a record from a guy who no-one knows), so im delighted Im having to get more pressed.

The album is available on iTunes and from the CD baby links on my page for the physical CD.

Again, thanks to whoever bought the album, overseas especially.
Your support means alot.

Joey

Hey guys,
Dying in bed with the flu down in UCC.
Been a whirlwind twon months since fractures release, played a good few gigs and has more than doubled sales since last CD.
Its availible in Whites in Enniscorthy for 10 euro, or you purchase it online on iTunes or CD baby!

Have a good few gigs coming up in Cork so hope to spread the music a bit more, have never played down here before so should be interesting!

Fracture has been recieving national and local airtime on RTE radio stations and Today FM which is pretty cool.

Hope to see you at a gig soon,
thanks for the continued support!
Joey

Well after a whirlwind week of preperations the new CD 'Fracture' is ready and in the process of being pressed as we speak!
Looking forward to the launch night in the Bailey on the 16th, should be a good show!!


So the new album is called Fracture and consistis of ten songs:

Whats left
If you cared
Side
Fracture
5times
Falling away
Knives
Shore
This cold wind
Lost open road

'Side' and 'Falling away' are the songs I have chosen as singles and will be recieving national and local airplay soon.

Joey

Well im literatly just off from playin with Mr. Jack L and am just going to give a quick update! Tonight went so great, Jack is an amazing performer. The crowd were very appreciative when i was playing and everything went according to plan. Bout one hundred or so people.. Great night. Many thanks to Jack, Dave and the band. Last tuesday and friday i had the awesome honour of playing with one of my guitar playing influences- Jeff Lang. Kilkenny was friday night and i was a bit off i thought, but Jeff was something else. Just amazing. Along with Grant, he owned the stage. Tuesday was in Mick Murphys in Ballymore Eustace and was a fantastic gig, again Jeff and Grant were amazing. Just want to express my sincere thanks to Ken, Ross, Clive, Jeff and Grant for giving me the opportunity to play those gigs. Thanks, Joey

..



Hey guys!

Just a quick few things!
Firstly, feel free to join my mailing list, the link is above!
Free downloads, live tracks and up to date news included!

Busy week ahead, opening for Jack L and Jeff Lang, both huge influences on me, especially jeff. Im delighted and feel very lucky to be playing with these amazing artists.

Heres a free track if you wish to download it!
..


Enjoy,
Joey

Evenin folks! The ball has officially started rolling! Album number two is on its way to completion! The music is still being recorded, we had a little hold up due to my inability to stick to plans made in advance and change last min Haha.. Apologies danny. Artwork was shot this week though with my trusty mate paul providing an excellent and fun shoot! Many thanks, they look great. Also this week scrapped some songs, wrote new ones... S.all going well and my arms are starting to get better. On reviewing the lyrics the other night i noticed a common thread of moving forward, new experiences coming from them all, unintentionally! Kinda cool though, it does some up the changes and last year pretty well. Right! I shall take my leave, got a movie to watch.. Thanks for all the great comments and messages lately people. Much appreciated. Joe

Its official.. Album number two has officially been started!! Im really pleased with how they're sounding, two new tracks 'Shore' and 'Because of...' are up on this page, any comments more than welcome! With all the delays and so on iv had so much time to really concentrate on perfecting the songs to my liking and scrapping ones i wasn't happy with, unlike last time which was very rushed. Back at the helm again is Danny Murphy, check out his page in my top friends. Some really weird songs this time around. Iv kinda got bored with just playing acoustic guitar with vocals for a whole album, so while there are some acoustic songs on it, expect alot more instruments and weird experimentation. If it sounds good ill use it! :) i feel much more confident in this album already and more confident in my songwriting and playing. Hopefully people will express the same opinion! Joey