27 Sep 2006 // A review by antonryan
Current Issue: VOL. 2 - NO. 9 September 15th – October 14th, 2006
http://www.northeastintune.com/index.php?bd=reg&sb=land&article=090606
ARTIST SPOTLIGHT
Anton Ryan
St. Paul, Minnesota
Accent Records
www.antonryan.com
Singer/Songwriter
By: Kathleen Sharkey
Talk about someone who can do it all, and has! Anton Ryan began his illustrious career in high school in Auckland, New Zealand, when as a senior he picked up his guitar and started writing songs. He started performing live while attending the University of Auckland. Anton wrote his first advertising jingle in 1988 for the New Zealand Fire Code safety, and then in 1990 preformed in a concert at The Gluepot to promote peace in the new millennium. In 1991 Anton moved to Sydney, Australia and began to play at venues around Australia, both as a solo act and with his new band "Anton Ryan and the Fresh". He preformed in such places as Sando and Hopetoun, harbourside Brasserie and the Darling Harbor outdoor festivals. While Anton was busy with his music he was also attending Sydney's Metro Television for Film Editing, and in 1997 he was made a member of the Australasian Performing rights Association, appointed Treasurer of the Society of Australian Songwriters (SAS), and in addition had his own radio program for local music on Radio Skid Row broadcasting where he also organized benefits for the station.
In 1998 Anton Ryan came to the United States to run a Rock Music program for a Pennsylvania Performance art camp. During the time he was touring in the United States his music was picked up in a compilation called "Scattered Pieces" (www.music01.com). Anton Ryan now resides in Saint Paul and has brought together some of his new material to create his new EP "On the Inside". Well received on the East coast and the University Circuit, Anton is now working on more new material and is looking to start performing nationally.
Anton’s simple but mesmerizing music and his profound lyrics lay bare the nostalgic soul of what could be defined as modern folk music. Like a gentle drift back to the vocals of James Taylor, Roger Miller and John Denver, Anton Ryan’s music is a compilation of heart and soul rather then intense sound and distracting screaming lyrics. Can I Have the Answer describes the ultimate search, be it for answers, truth or self, it is in the searching that we find the real questions. Stillwaters displays the knowledge that the choices we make are what bring us to the point we arrive at and that it is only within ourselves that we can find a way to change. Morning Sun is the loving reflection each and everyday brings as the warming light reaches out. What’s My Life is a coming understanding of the darkness inside each heart and the guilt that realization presents. Wake Me shows the fleeting time we have in life and the knowledge that life is to be lived.
Aside from Anton’s powerful music and even more powerful vocals, described as “a strong howl of a voice” by Drum Media, Sydney Australia, he is also a great intellectual. On his website www.antonryan.com, Anton keeps a journal of sorts. Like a proverbial "fly on the wall" we can see into the grand intellect and catch perhaps a glimpse into the philosophic mind as it speaks more to itself then to the voyeuristic reader. Anton’s journals read like a poetic diary entry but within one can see the inner workings and can understand more readily the heart and soul behind the lyrics. To close, there are artists who influence the way we think about life and ourselves, not to mention our place in life, Anton Ryan is one of these artists as well as being poet, philosopher and all around renaissance man.