Particles of bliss Ryan Davis

Ryan Davis has been recording music since 2006. He has produced for Manual Music, Cocoon, Proton, Areal, Archipel, Back Home, Wunderbar and many other labels. Recently he has released two EPs with Traum.

One can say without doubt, Ryan is a real artist and a tastemaker. Ryan has released on many labels worldwide, not always on big labels… though that never was of prior importance to him , but his quality has earned him an international audience and standing. Ryan has always gone the way which seemed natural to him and has released innovative melodic techno. But it has always been also a battle with established DJ structures which led to the founding of his own label Back Home where he was able to feature new talents that shared his interest in this genre. His release in 2007 on Klang Gymnastik  the "Transformer EP" then directly put him on the map with a strong selling vinyl and lead to the "Zyrial Soundfood EP" in 2009 on the Dutch label Manual which can be considered his break through. The track from the EP "Spicyal Sound" was played and supported by Miss Kittin and The Hacker, Boyz Noise, and Ivan Smagghe who licensed the track for the "Live At Robert Johnson Volume 3" compilation as well as by Depeche Mode’s Martin Gore who played "Spicyal Sound" before all of their gigs during their "Sound Of The Universe" tour. All this lead to gigs in Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, London and Barcelona and to a very international standing.

In 2010 another huge track evolved with "Zodiac". The track was charted and played by Dominik Eulberg as well as by Ellen Allien at Time Warp which consolidated his reputation as a brilliant composer. Remixes by Max Cooper for him as well as him remixing Max Cooper’s track "Enveloped" for Traum actually put him in contact with our label. Two EP releases followed on Traum and it was the „Routes of Life EP“ (Traum V133) that created an even bigger following and lead to the idea of finally recording an album. The album consist out of 11 never released tracks that highlight his talent to keep away from preset formulas and turn toward music compositions.

The album opens right away with the great track "The Enchanted Garden". A piano piece that  flows, flies, observes with one eye… keeping a perfect balance… sparks of electronica being added… tiny but lively as rainforest sounds. We think this is a timeless track and a true pearl and shows that Ryan was not saving up things for later.   "Where The Right Things Are" is a haunted track... in a gentle way... full of passion and sadness, madness and melancholy. Some of this has been put in notes by bands from the North of England such as New Order, King Of The Slums and the Blue Orchids. This is a great shoe gazing track that never stays still always on the run... always passing by... never arriving.

"Beluga" kicks off with up a pulsating pond of energy. Equally to the primordial soup it creates life seemingly out of “nothing”, so full of colours and shapes the transformation itself is amazing and shows the enormous composition skills Ryan is capable of. Suddenly all is in uproar blinking shinning rushing in different directions. This is a real musical masterpiece.

"Break The Night" articulates perfectly the dooming and gloomy, heavy atmosphere the night radiates when a finest baroque feeling is created through a rotating “miniature” melody, circulating and winding it’s body through the gaps the basslines has created. This is great storytelling, a fantastic tale of illumination.

"The Field" acts like a hi-speed flying camera sent to forbidden areas to record footage. Arousing, spectacular, triggering heart attacks... it soon becomes clear it will never loose control and when we long for these moments of chaos it seems even more “collected” and by magic forces even smooth and gentle it crosses oceans in light speed. Before we recognise what has happened to us the song is over and we give high praise to Ryan Davis that he has the guts to not extend these moments but quits when all has been said. The track has a breathtaking tempo and is enchanting at the same time.

"Aquarius", a roman emperor or the essence of life? Whatever it might stand for... it’s characteristic is light and floating and through the course of the track a trace of fate is added by synth sounds that are broad enough to stay in there and remain there for good... more dignified and reflecting upon itself... this track has a bit of vintage felling as apposed the the extremely modern tracks before this one. It does create a deja vu when a classic feeling here and there appears.

"Head In The Clouds" has a bit of that early Aphex Twin feeling to it, but that does not stay for to long since the track describes only an momentum... like an short interlude, it disappears after what seems to be not much more than a minute.

"Entangled Life" has collected strength from "Heads In The Clouds" and articulates strength by a mean rectangular bassline and we know this track has the epic touch to it. And Ryan has the composing skills to realise what he suggests but we think this track could have been a bit longer!

"When Rain Drops" makes raindrops out of lead fall to the ground. You will never see them in the sky, maybe they are to grey and there are much to many of them. It is a sad day and still there are small things happening that let a bit of light shine through which makes us happy... this is a bit of a fairy tale... and it has a bit of industrial romance and strength to it. Wonderful.   When "Eyes Wide Open" starts out you directly know this will be a clubbing track. It has that groove and is less pushing the hemisphere of soundscapes. But Ryan Davis would not be Ryan Davis if hew would not try to give the track a melodic perspective. Ryan adds a super nice sounding synth with a nice broad frequency range that sweeps away all what was there before, clearing the track for something new to happen, making this a great track to beam yourself away to.

"Dragonheart" is the closing track and to our all surprise Ryan comes up with a vocal ballad all emotional and personal with a shoe gazing edge to it. Making this a more personal finish definitely adds up to the idea of making this album, his first album to date is something special.