Dancing On The Edge

Description

Originally released via Ryan's own label, Sophomore Lounge, in the United States at the end of 2023, it received incredible reviews: Best of 2023 in Pitchfork and Rolling Stone, 9/10 in Uncut, and a series of other notable publications. In the UK in June to play a few dates with the Reds, the Pinks, and the Purples. "At the frayed lower end of Indiana – just a few minutes' bike ride north of Louisville, Kentucky – the Americana-noir soundwaves of multi-instrumentalist, artist, and songwriter Ryan Davis have been emanating for years in a myriad of forms. As the driving force behind the acclaimed state champion, a long-time member of Tropical Trash, administrator of the esoteric and excellent Cropped Out festival, and sole owner of the Sophomore Lounge label, Davis delivers his first true 'solo' release with Dancing On The Edge, a rich tapestry of 2LP songs that absolutely shines on seven expansive tracks. It is a pure collage of modernity and heritage. After a period of introspection spent revisiting his drawing and painting practice, as well as his new dives into instrumental music, Davis's radical change was imminent. 'I wasn't sure I was going to make another album of songs,' he says, 'but last year I started writing again, and it eventually took the form of the album at hand. I worked hard on the material. It felt practically impossible to finish for a good part of the time I spent trying to get into it, but the process pulled me out of a strange place. I was finally able to live enough inside the songs to understand the world within them – to ultimately help them become what I understood they were. Indeed, there is a lot of inspiration captured in the grooves with Ryan's unfiltered and folkloric approach to the poetic twists of language meeting sublime instrumentation head-on. Recorded in early 2023 with both in-studio and remote assistance from peers like Joan Shelley, Catherine Irwin (Freakwater), Will Lawrence (Felice Brothers, Gun Outfit, John Early), Jenny Rose (Giving Up), Christopher May (Mail the Horse), Elisabeth Fuchsia (Footings, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy), and Aaron Rosenblum (Son of Earth, Sapat), 'Dancing on the Edge' perhaps primarily relies on Davis's tightly-knit drinking buddies and collaborators from Equipment Pointed Ankh (recordings on Astral Editions, Bruit Direct Disques, Torn Light) – a five-headed hive spirit from which he drew the impetus for his own foray into more abstract and improvised terrains in recent years under the pseudonym Roadhouse. The results here are melancholic, sweet, minimalist yet colorful in ambiance: a highway accompaniment singing with crisp instrumentation and a relaxed, amiable approach to singing with rhapsodic words. Fans of the aforementioned artists as well as those of Souled American, David Berman, Kurt Vile, and Neil from the 'Comes A Time' era should all easily find a gem. Although stripped down and refined in their presentation, many of these tracks last over 6 minutes, allowing for a good dose of expansion. Dancing On The Edge looks into the navel of the underbelly of the American experience with a good dose of outward reach. Besides the Kosmische synth and violin hits reaching a European element, the majestic organ swells build a musical bridge between Southern California in 1969 and the fluid movements of Felt's later era, with layers of clever gestures that take it well beyond the realm of its indie troubadour/acoustic singer-songwriter archetype. The music and mint juleps have never paired so well. It’s the sound of someone carrying a torch." - Bill Callahan // "Davis's talents are immense: vivid imagery and clever lines drawing epiphanies from the sacred, the mundane, and the profane." (Rolling Stone) // "On the latest and perhaps greatest notch of the legendary singer-songwriter's belt, Ryan Davis tips his beer into a morally and constitutionally declining world." (Aquarium Drunkard, Best of 2023)