Biography
Audrey Ryan is a one-man-band multi-instrumentalist whose music is quirky and genre-bending. She tours regionally, nationally, and internationally supported by Minty Fresh (US)/Folkwit Records (UK) . She has opened for Suzanne Vega, They Might be Giants, Josh Ritter, Ra Ra Riot, among many others.
Audrey was nominated “Outstanding Singer-Songwriter of the Year” in 2008 at the Boston Music Awards and “Best Female Vocalist” in the Boston Phoenix Music Poll in 2009. She was also recently named the winner of the WXRV "the River" 92.5fm “River Rising Star 2009” competition.
PRESS QUOTES:
A lush, beautifully arranged slice of indie pop, Dishes & Pills is the work of an intelligent songwriter and composer with a clear vision of the music. There are elements of baroque 60s pop such as The Zombies or the Beach Boys, but her clear musical contemporaries are ambitious, sensitive, smart songwriters such as Sufjan Stevens, John Vanderslice, and Feist. - Bangor Daily
Theatrical, quirky, feels orchestral while remaining stripped-down; the Decemberists with a female singer a very good thing. -Mass Live
A genuine weirdo, Ryan's songwriting and vocal style also might remind one of more modern female artists from Bjork to Shivaree to The Softies, and the menagerie of instrumentation is more out on the lunatic fringe � la the Dresden Dolls or Daniel Johnston. It's a truly enjoyable musical schizophrenia that you could listen to 50 times and still hear something different each time. -Valley Advocate
The result is a sprawling epic of indie-folk ingenuity. Structurally, her tunes are pure pop. But she infuses her arrangements with a jazz sensibility, expertly decking out the tunes with all the bells and whistles quite literally, in most cases. Her work here more closely resembles the experimental folk orchestrations of Sufjan Stevens. Like Michigan's eclectic tunesmith, Ryan excels at crafting quirkily diverse soundscapes that augment her intricate wordplay. Also like Stevens, her real strength lies in her subtly engaging songwriting; despite the wealth of aural delicacies found on Dishes & Pills, one gets the feeling that these songs would be just as effective if stripped down to guitar and Ryan's charmingly expressive voice. -Seven Days (Dan Bolles)
Ryan's inventive songwriting, which adds surreal sounds and multifarious instrumentation to a solid folk-rock core, keeps all 14 tracks sounding mostly fresh and original. The wildly diverse instrumentation peppers each song with new trinkets of spacey and intriguing sound that dangles like fish bait around the listener's ear. Her highly personal lyrics are also absorbing. Although most of the songs have a lighthearted feel, the words are often cynical and self-deprecating, addressing topics that range from cancer to dead-end relationships to pills, marijuana and booze. Some of the songs are heavier than others, both lyrically and musically, but the imaginative spirit never wanes. � -The Wire
Quite similar to Aimee Mann, she melds a pretty voice with gently eccentric instrumentation popular in the contemporary indie scene (accordion, glockenspiel), producing results both ambitious and likeable. -Portland Phoenix
Singer-songwriter indie pop goddess. Ryan is like Joni Mitchell and Radiohead playing some kind of hybrid jazz music that- and this is why her stuff is so good - just doesnt exist anywhere else. � -Leo Weekly (Louisville, KY)
Audrey's music is lyrical, eclectic, innovative, and genre-bending. Her songwriting blends together the influences of her parent's generation, Joni Mitchell, Dylan, and Neil Young - her generation, Radiohead, Wilco, and Arcade Fire. The Seven Days in Burlington, VT described Audrey's music as "anything but formulaic. With its liberal use of jazz progressions, quick tempo shifts, and a vast sea of musical influences, the album has myriad sounds and reflections." As a performer she has been hailed nationally both as a gifted songwriter and as a seasoned instrumentalist and improviser. Her nick-name in the Boston scene is "the female Beck".
Instrumentation
Perform solo as a one-man-band guitar/accordion with hands and drums/percussion with feet. And as duo Stephen Brodsky of "Cave In" (bass and vocals)
Discography
-2009 "I Know, I Know"
-2007 sophomore full length record "Dishes & Pills"
-2006 EP "Sirens"
-2005 EP "This Town"
-2004 Debut album "Passing Thru"
-2003 demo w/ 7 original songs
-2002-04 Demo and mp3s (studio and live)
Links
| http://www.audreyryan.org |