RY X ‎– Unfurl

    RY X ‎– Unfurl

    08 May

    By

    Label: Infectious Music ‎– INFECT488LP
    Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, 180g
    Country: Europe
    Released: 15 Feb 2019
    Genre: Electronic, Rock, Pop, Folk, World, & Country
    Style: Beatdown, Indie Pop, Indie Rock

    “After the flood”

    In ancient lore the flood came and swept away the inhabitants of the known earth and forced a prescient individual to go into self-imposed lockdown for 40 days and 40 nights. After the flood the world was slowly rebuilt one album at a time played on vintage fired clay pots using sharpened bamboo sticks as styli. Ah, those were the days………..;-)

    So called “Primitive” cultures somehow manage to pass down their musical traditions and over time these become the song lines that influence our cultures today. Ry Cuming, better known by his stage name RY X, is an Australian singer-songwriter and musician, born in Angourie, New South Wales, Australia. RY X was actually born on Woodford Island in the Northern Rivers of New South Wales, where he became a surfer.
    The culture of the Northern Rivers region is predominantly a peaceful, earth and environment focused one with nature and harmony important to its many inhabitants. Starting his music career in 2010, he released his first solo album, ‘Ry Cuming’, in 2010 on Jive Records. In 2014, he formed the band The Acid, with producer Freeland and Steve Nalepa, and released the album, ‘Liminal’, and then created a duo with Freeland, called Howling, and released ‘Sacred Ground’. He released his second solo album ‘Dawn’, in May 2016 via Loma Vista Records and Infectious Records.

    In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, RY X mentioned Pearl Jam and Jeff Buckley as his greatest influences. He started writing music at 16, after he heard Buckley’s album Grace.
    He moved to Los Angeles, California, where he was signed by Jive Records, releasing his self-titled debut album on 20 July 2010. He briefly toured with Maroon 5, becoming their opening act in select venues. Ry X won Australia’s Dolphin Awards for “Best Pop Song” and “Best New Artist”. In 2012, he collaborated with Frank Wiedemann to form the band Howling and released a full length album Sacred Ground on Ninja Tune and Monkeytown Records.

    RY X’s hit single “Howling” was featured in the movie Everything, Everything. The remix by Âme was featured in the movie Taken 3. On May 6, 2016, RY X released his debut album ‘Dawn’ through Infectious Records and Loma Vista Records. The album charted at #34 in the UK Album Charts as well as charting in Germany, France, Canada and Australia.

    RY X second studio album, Unfurl, was released on 15 February 2019 via Infectious Music. The album announcement coincided with the release of a new single, Untold, and the announcement of a global tour, beginning in Europe, that commenced in February 2019. His dream was to travel and play his amazing music with amazing full symphony orchestras in each country he toured.
    In March 2019 RY X played to a packed house with a full orchestra in Brussels.

    Ry X announced an accompanying European tour, including dates in London, Glasgow, Manchester Brighton and Bristol. Then he has a London show at the Royal Albert Hall lined up for October.
    I was looking forward to him touring in 2020 as I try to coincide overseas trips with live concerts (Still thanking Demetris and Fanis for that amazing Dead Can Dance concert in 23 September 2012 in Athens).

    I gathered it would take some time for him to come back to his homeland and dreamed of a possible connection with the MSO to provide the full concert experience with the symphonic scale of the Brussels concert and those at Royal Albert Hall. Well those plans have been swept away in our version of a modern day “flood” scenario.

    COVID19 lockdowns quickly froze concert performances globally and we entered our “Arks” to preserve our immediate families. Fortunately our modern day Arks have internet feeds, Hello Fresh deliveries and nice stereo systems to steer us through the lack of live music sessions. Ry X creates massive soundscapes with deep bass modes from electronic instruments and then adds choral strings from symphonic instruments to create a deeply relaxing mood to add his vocals to.

    New York Times reviewed his work by saying “His voice is a pearly, androgynous tenor, a vessel for liquid melancholy that blurs words at the edges. He stretches pop structures with repetition that grows devotional, obsessive, hypnotic”. If you need something to calm the rough seas and filter peace and harmony into your Ark then this album is a great way to do so. As this ship sails into new uncharted territory it will eventually find its own Mt Ararat and come to rest. The rebuilding of live music venues and artists starting to return will bring much needed refreshment to those souls who are feeling the absence of live music.

    Kindred spirits will return and find friends and joy in being able to “escape” from the daily concerns. I’m looking forward to this artist visiting and helping us on that journey. In the meantime the LP will have to continue to work its magic……..

    Track listing

    A1 Body (Ambient)
    A2 Untold
    A3 Bound
    A4 Body Sun
    A5 Foreign Tides
    A6 Hounds
    B1 Sun (Ambient)
    B2 YaYaYa
    B3 The Water
    B4 Coven
    B5 Mallorca
    B6 Fumbling Prayer

     

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