ONE OF A DIFFERENT COLOR

I realised that the time had come to review the latest album from Ryan Parmenter, so having actually tidied the study in the last week that meant getting the CD down from the shelves, and there it was right next to three albums from Matthew Parmenter (yes, I keep all my CDs in alphabetical artist order ' it would be hell otherwise). For those of you who are unware, Ryan and Matthew are cousins, and while Matthew came to everyone's awareness through Discipline, Ryan had Eyestrings. Now, I really liked their last album, 'Consumption' which came out in 2005, but although I knew that Ryan had released some solo material since then I hadn't heard any. Now, back with his first album since 'Sad Men' in 2009, I am happy to have put that to rights as I have his brand new album in front of me.

David Dawkins plays guitar on half of the songs, but apart from that it is all Ryan, although Matthew does have a cameo on the title cut. Ryan's approach to music is often piano-based, and then adding the layers he needs to on top of that. Personally I would prefer 'proper' drums, but then I say that whenever I hear sequencing, and it isn't as painful here as it could have been. For some reason I kept thinking of David Byrne while playing this, and I have no idea why as Ryan sounds nothing like him vocally, so I think it must be more of an approach. However, it is incredibly melodic with wonderful pop crossover, which feels fresh and invigorating. One of the huge positives for me is that this doesn't sound American at all, and instead is poppy, English, and really enjoyable and accessible. I hope I don't have to wait another 13 years to hear anything from Ryan, as this is sheer fun, and sometimes that is all I want from music.