Blogfoot heard something in the woods. Sounded like alt-country meets John Cougar Mellencamp with influences from Walking Dead soundtrack artists like Jamie Commons. Turns out it was Canadian singer/song-writer Ryan Van Sickle who makes his home in New York City today.Usually, artists with perfectly crafted images do not appeal to Blogfoot. After a few listens to Van Sickle's album "Ghosts Of The Brokenhearted" released in March 2011, me was very skeptical. His new EP, "Somewhere In America", changed Blogfoot's mind about him. Sickle's work has become much more emotionally raw and musically complex by distancing itself from the pop sound on his previous album. This development comes just in time to soften the blow of lyrics like "Somewhere in America the brave are growing old, fire is slowly dying, hearts are turning cold ... and all the seeds have blown away".
In this long economic Depression in America, it's refreshing to hear an artist confronting the reality of the situation rather than pretending that "things are swell" as so many modern top 40 artists do with their perfect, flavorless bubble-gum musical contributions to blissful ignorance.
References:
- Ryan Van Sickle.com, Official Site
- Bandcamp, Ryan Van Sickle
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