Audrey Ryan “Let’s go to the Vamp” EP Review
Audrey Ryan: songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, artist, curator, supporter, story-teller, friend. She is certainly all of these things and over the years has become a strong thread in the fabric of the community of Cambridge/Somerville folk musicians and far extending her reach beyond that. I was lucky enough to share the stage at the David Lamb benefit with Audrey back in January and as talented as she is a musician, songwriter, and accompanying musician on other people’s sets, her ability to truly engage a crowd with her stories is what completely drew me in and knocked me out.
Her newest release “Let’s go to the Vamp” is a concise collection of 5 tracks produced by another great local musician/producer, Will Dailey and upon which Audrey plays more instruments than I can count with all of my fingers. This collection further instills her as, quite frankly, one of the most creative musicians that is around town shaping a hybrid of folk and indie rock type music.
“Oh, the Ego” has a cloudy type of feel, a daydream landscape plodded along by the banjo with a whole array of ambient noise courtesy of those countless instruments mentioned before. Ryan’s voice has a delicate, innocent timbre to it that still is able to come across as strong, resilient and powerful.
“Sometimes I Wish” takes on some more of that ambiance but in a diference way. It’s a big clearer and more “pretty”. Audrey’s voice is sheer and right out in the mix. It really lets the listener hear how great of a singer she is.
“Throw Me a Bone” is a guitar driven tune with a kind of funky feel to it. With the drums driven, some spooky synth type sound in the background, and the slightly distortion on the bass it takes on a different feel than the previous tunes, but always shows the musicians versatility. I see this in a commercial or movie. She has hit on a very major marketable kind of a sound with this record. Perhaps a bit of Dailey’s influence as well.
The textures and layers of this record are definitely noteworthy. I am always in awe of someone who’s mind works in way where they can say “yes, definitely add a faint kazoo in here and maybe some omnichord right there…” and it manages to be completely successful and really quite enjoyable to listen to. Where, if given to someone like me, would end up sounding like a complete cluster of noise, it manages takes on a magical and wonderful sound. There is a true talent in that ability, and I bow down to Audrey for excelling at it.
I have to pay extreme thanks to musicians like Audrey Ryan. She creates a type of music like on this record that would be considered outside of my normal realm and creates something different that I truly enjoy. Loops and synths and all sorts of things, and I absolutely love what she does here. She makes me stretch the borders of my listening and introduces me to something great both with this EP and music in general. “Let’s Go To the Vamp” just further reassures the fact that she is a mainstay in the New England songwriting community and she is keeping strong at it.
