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'They Sell Doomsday'

by Ryan Power

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  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $12 USD  or more

     

  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Double vinyl record with full-color gatefold jacket. Includes complete lyrics sheet and digital download coupon.

    Includes unlimited streaming of 'They Sell Doomsday' via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 7 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $28.50 USD or more 

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Professionally-duplicated glass mastered compact disc comes in a full-color single panel digipack.

    Includes unlimited streaming of 'They Sell Doomsday' via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 7 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $12 USD or more 

     

1.
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The Cavalry 04:10
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In a Tizzy 02:38
5.
6.
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8.
Issues 03:52
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Via Media 03:16
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Wooly Minded 05:43

about

It is with much excitement that NNA presents ‘They Sell Doomsday,’ the latest full-length album from songwriter & producer Ryan Power. As evidenced by his previous work with NNA and beyond, Ryan Power has spent most of his life immersed in the many realms of music creation. ‘They Sell Doomsday’ is his seventh full-length album, and with dedication to one’s craft comes refinement and mastery. In many ways, this is Power’s most ambitious recorded statement yet, combining the musical palettes of his previous work with explorations into uncharted territories, plus his quintessential attention to sonic detail and innovative lyricism.

In addition to the uniquely colorful electronic environments developed on his previous two albums, Power more prominently integrates his natural talent and foundations in jazz guitar into the mix - smooth solos and tender acoustic pluckings find their homes comfortably in the beds of lush synthesizer chords and metronomic drum machines. While ’They Sell Doomsday’ provides plenty of the perfect, silky pop hits that Power is known for on tracks like “The Cavalry” and “Lazy About Love,” it also contains some of his most complex, challenging work to date. Ryan is fearless in mining the weirder, more demented corners of pop songwriting as the modern world around us follows suit. Songs like “In a Tizzy” or “Issues” at moments sound like looking into a funhouse mirror through a kaleidoscope, with complex lyrical patterns bisecting a Rubik’s cube of melodic shifts, all while somehow being tethered to reality by a steady pulse. Power’s deep exploration of melody and chord changes are pushed to the brink of chaos, creating musically Cubist puzzles that splinter off in unpredictable directions, only to effortlessly land back where they started. Amidst all the hysteria, however, is a foundation of the gorgeous, jazz-influenced chord progressions that define Power’s sound. The common thread across all of the album’s songs which makes the bizarreness so palatable is his ingenious use of melody, even in the most unexpected places, taking the listener on a chromatic merry-go-round of pop songs.

The lyrical themes of ‘They Sell Doomsday’ touch on the building blocks of our contemporary human existence - the future, the past, romance, purpose, human nature, technological mayhem, cerebral disarray - all sifted through the sardonic mind of Ryan Power, and delivered in lyrically beautiful, often cryptic poetics. While perhaps more conceptual than previous albums, the lyrics on 'They Sell Doomsday' also show maturity through self-awareness - of fears, faults, both personally and societally. Power continues to muse on the joys and pains of love, desire, and the inherent duality of their conflicting biological and mystical tendencies. He also touches on the paradoxes found in life’s current social climates, and the struggle to maintain a peaceful isolation from the technological and media frenzies while simultaneously not being categorized as unaware or apathetic. These themes are conducted fluidly through Ryan’s often tongue-in-cheek writing, using abstraction and wordplay in a way that feels less journalistic and more stream-of-consciousness than his previous work.

The highly personal nature of Ryan’s music is reinforced by the fact that the final product is entirely self-built, and his presence in all aspects of it's creation can not only be heard, but felt as well. This record is the definitive statement of a practice and craft refined by it’s creator through passion and time. It is not an album that someone would make for their first, or even their fourth, full-length; this is the work of a highly developed musician in full control of their vision. The perfect storm of high-quality, inventive writing and production make ‘They Sell Doomsday’ a milestone in Power’s discography.

credits

released October 20, 2017

Written, recorded and produced by Ryan Power, BMI
Recorded at Stu Stu Studio in Essex, Vermont 2014-2017
Mastered by Kevin Blackler
Pressed at Burlington Record Plant

Additional production help from Cosmic Matrix on Empty the Jewels, Lovely, Lovely, Lovely and Wooly Minded
Travis Laplante plays saxophone on Pilot to Moth
Annakalmia Traver plays flute on Don’t Mention It and sings on Wooly Minded
Song sequencing consultant: Zach Phillips

Artwork by Annakalmia Traver

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about

Ryan Power Queens, New York

It seems that Ryan Power is a highly sensitive, mid-life, jazz-influenced songwriter living in Queens, NY.

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