Ryan Smith – I Just Want To Feel That Way Review
“Ryan Smith’s music finds middle ground between the far reaches of the indie landscape and the familiarity of pop radio.” And that, my friends, sums up this six song EP succinctly. It is, on the whole, middle of the road popish music that you would likely find on any of the “easy listening” stations you skip by when trying to find something worth listening to. These songs are just six blah pieces that fail to stimulate or stir your imagination or feet. Athough Eric Broz of “Just Another Columbus Ohio Music Blog” descibed the album thusly, “the best six Paul Westerberg songs that Paul Westerberg neither wrote nor recorded”, I would like to think that Westerberg would have a bit more pride than to release mediocre tracks like these.
Smith is a native of Ohio and has a couple of other CD’s already out there, presumably boring people to death. There really isn’t much to distinguish Neil Avenue and Someone Please Take Me Home from I Just Want To Feel That Way, they all have the same breathy vocals that sound Tom Petty-ish but really have no colour or depth. Smith lacks any vocal or tonal quality and has no variation in tone or delivery. He sounds bored and expressionless leaving nothing in his voice that makes you want to pay attention. Trying to sound world weary is one thing and a few artists do it well but when you just sound weary it puts the listener to sleep. There is no oomph behind his voice, no power or technique, and it doesn’t sound like he knows what his diaphragm is for. I would hasten to add that he isn’t off pitch or out of control just that his voice sounds untrained and insecure.
The songs themselves are much the same, there are no catchy hooks, no memorable melodies, and no choruses that stick with you. They either start quietly and build to a half-hearted crescendo or start as dynamically as a sparkler and end with a fizzle. There is no risk-taking, no edginess, no sparkling insights, just unrelenting sameness. This makes me sad. I don’t like giving bad reviews and, really, it isn’t bad music, it just isn’t good music. I think Smith could have potential if he was more of a risk-taker but what it ends up sounding like to me is a man who is comfortable in his day job and is just making music as a side project. A hobby if you like. He obviously isn’t counting on record sales to support himself. And that’s fine but if he is serious about music then he is going to have to do better than this.
You can download I Just Want To Feel That Way and Neil Avenue and a couple of singles, Girls With The Glasses and All I Want For Christmas for free from his website or you can download I Just Want To Feel That Way for free from his MySpace page.
Ryan Smith – Santa Cruz
Ryan Smith – I Just Want To Feel That Way
Tags: EP
