RYAN STAR, A N G E L S + A N I M A L S
After fulfilling his record deal with Atlantic Records, which gave us the terrific 11:59 album in 2010, and after having another go with Island Records, who released the single “Stay Awhile”, Ryan Star took back his new music, created a Pledge campaign, and last week A N G E L S + A N I M A L S arrived, after being preceded by the EP Animals late last Summer (which I previously wrote about). The new album gives Ryan’s fans everything they have wanted – a truly personal, introspective, emotional rock record. While 11:59 has a set of fabulous pop and rock songs (and lord knows what it took to get them there, being in the works for years), A N G E L S + A N I M A L S I believe offers the side of Ryan Star that the corporate world would say wouldn’t fit on one of their releases.
You can hear the full story of the new album below from Ryan himself, along with a live version of “My Life With You”. It contains six new songs, including a slower and more deliberate version of the single “Impossible” (the Animals version is also included), plus the four other songs from Animals. A N G E L S + A N I M A L S isn’t a lush affair, but the instrumentation and production sound very precise, leaving Ryan to sing his songs, with intimate and sometimes intense results. “Sailing On”, “I Will Survive”, and “Where The Island Ends” are the best of the new ones, alternately sweeping you up in the emotion or empowering you to carry on.
It’s been a long journey for Ryan Star from Elephant and “Rock Star:Supernova”, and he’s now recorded two very different albums. Hopefully A N G E L S + A N I M A L S, will be a successful reminder to the industry about what fans want, and can now get through Pledge/Kickstarter projects, from their favourite performers who know how to deliver the goods.
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