Bill Ryder-Jones
A Bad Wind Blows In My Heart
Domino
Street: 04.23
Bill Ryder-Jones = Syd Barrett + Elliott Smith
After leaving the band The Coral, singer-songwriter Bill Ryder-Jones’ new solo album shows that he probably made a good move. Although most of the songs are rather minimalistic in their approach, Ryder-Jones’ voice accompanies the quiet setting very naturally. Those two characteristics combine to create a beautiful, melancholy vibe overall. There aren’t a lot of melodic phrases throughout the album—instead, Ryder-Jones seems to favor beautiful, dark chord changes, which are emphasized nicely by the instrumentation. The more I listened to the album, the more I found myself drawing comparisons of Ryder-Jones’ sound to that of the late Syd Barrett. Barrett’s only two solo albums, The Madcap Laughs and Barrett, are a bit more raw and unleashed, but Ryder-Jones definitely resembles the same, sad, vulnerable songwriting. If you’re looking for a good album to put on and to chill out for a bit, A Bad Wind Blows In My Heart will do the trick. –Jory Carroll