A Beauty
5
By damienwgreen
Most of us have our bands or songwriters that we feel are underappreciated. As we preach to the masses about our love we reach in the air for descriptions that others may relate to. He sounds like, she writes like, etc. The recipe to create a Matthew Ryan might include a dash of Dylan, a pinch of Strummer and half a teaspoon of Westerberg. However, for those of us that have been fortunate to follow Ryan’s career, we know that he writes in his own language and sounds exactly like Matthew Ryan.
Hustle up Starlings is the culmination of years in the trenches fighting for craftsmanship, integrity and the fragile beauty of the human spirit. Ryan manages to capture the average man who dares to soar beyond circumstances and dreams, hopes and remembers all while feeling for the future.
Hustle up Starlings is beauty, quite possibly the best record Ryan has made to date.
“It’s just so strange
How we get stuck
What once meant nothing
Now means so much
I saw your name
Yesterday
On some unopened mail
I threw away
I stood right there and picked it up
Yeah things have been pretty rough”
-from Maybe I’ll Disappear
