Ryan Lee Crosby

by Ryan Lee Crosby

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  • 12" Limited Edition Vinyl LP

    From its inception, this music was intended for a vinyl release.

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about

Boston Globe Album Review by Matt Parish

RYAN LEE CROSBY

One of the town's more mercurial musicians finally drops the full-length follow-up to 2009’s excellent “Out to Dry,” and this one’s an overdriven mess of rock fantasy. “There is no compass here to guide us/ Through the wilderness of need” goes one nugget in the narcotic haze of “The Broken Bread,” which lilts through a moody Leonard Cohen acoustic feel as warbly, backward electric guitar uncoils in the background. It’s a weathered effect that brings to mind rusty field recordings and, at the same time, acid-drenched lo-fi excursions of ’60s freaks (maybe even a nod back to his garage-prog days in Cancer to the Stars). Still here are the somber touches of his older, gentler recordings – “Angel of Mercy” hobbles through a rickety mutant dub ballad – but generally this is a distortion-blasted affair through and through. Bass melts through fuzzed tones, decayed loops of feedback eat away at the edges of every song, and drums explode like mailboxes stuffed with fireworks. Crosby, who performed all of the parts on the record (except for a ghostly cameo from Marissa Nadler) even busts out blazing dual guitar solos on the elevated “You.” No boundaries here – Crosby confirms as much, when that song culminates in a declaration that he’s “free as the man you want me to be.”

credits

released 12 June 2012
Written, produced, performed and recorded by Ryan Lee Crosby
Mixed at the Soul Shop by Elio DeLuca and Ryan Lee Crosby with Daniel Nicholas Daskivich
Mastered at Old Colony by Scott Craggs

Marissa Nadler sings on "The Broken Bread"
Jonathan Briks plays drums on "Diamond in the Sun"
Elio DeLuca plays Fender Rhodes on "You" and "Diamond in the Sun"

Photo by Chris March

www.ryanleecrosby.com

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Track Name: The Song I Sing For You
The song I sing for you is one of longing to be free
to be known and to be loved and to be seen
I come to you in hunger and I come to you afraid
I come to you in sorrow for decisions that I made

Receiving me so graciously with bread and wine and song
reminding me so patiently you've been here all along
the song I sing for you is one of gratitude and praise
for giving me compassion to forgive my wasted days

Now the song I sing for you is for the world, too
I sing these words in offering to ask what I can do
I made the choice to follow you after I heard the call
of a voice out in the dark when I was all alone
I heard your voice out in the dark when I was all alone
I heard your voice out in the dark when I was all alone
Track Name: Angel of Mercy
One lady says goodbye
and another comes to me
as a baby
and an angel of mercy

At the eleventh hour
she suddenly appears
so I hold her close
and I stroke her hair

Lay down beside me
angel of mercy
lay down beside me
and show me the light

One mother dies
and another comes to me
as a lover
and an angel of mercy

Deep in the darkness
our legs intertwine
everything is new
and I get warm as sadness comes through

Lay down beside me
angel of mercy
lay down beside me
and show me the light

Lead me into divine light

Save me from the restless night
Track Name: Run Away From Me
Lover, I am with you
at the ocean crashing
fashioning a shelter
in the center of the storm

Lover, I looked on
as the waves washed over
and I am still here
even though you're gone

Run away from me, my love
go into the night alone
run away from me, my love
I can never be the one

Underneath the moonlight
water turns from blue to green
dreaming of a canyon
to fill with its body

Lover, it is over
retreat into the sun
as the moon and stars
surrender to the dawn

Run away from me, my love
go into the night alone
run away from me, my love
I was never meant to be the one

I am here to listen to
the sound of emptiness
undressing in the distance
bare before the wind

Lover, I am with you
standing at the gate
with you in the moment
and it's getting late

Run away from me, my love
go into the night alone
run away from me, my love
I can never be the one
run away from me, my love
my love
Track Name: The Broken Bread
There is no compass here to guide us
through the wilderness of need
leading you and I through the darkness
on an island in the sea

Where the broken bread of your body
feeds me tonight with wine
as I stand before you hungry
to know the deep divine

Waves form and collapse
around a one room house
breaking walls down to let you in
shaking the foundation

Where the broken bread of your body
feeds me tonight with wine
as I stand before you hungry
to know the deep divine
to know the deep divine

We are the sum of our desires
and everything we've lost
now the longing that I feel for you
reveals what I have to lose

As the broken bread of your body
feeds me tonight with wine
as I stand before you hungry
to know the deep divine
to know the deep divine
to know the deep divine
Track Name: Life and Death
Lord, out of fear and shame
I dare not speak your name
yet you do not deny me
in my hour of need
when I crawl through the darkness
on my hands and knees

Happiness and misery
are merely different shades
when we see past duality
life and death will fade

Cowardice and bravery
are not what they appear to be
when I learn to see clearly
how the two are one
then I'll start it all over
and I'll be your son

Happiness and misery
are merely different shades
when we see past duality
life and death will fade

Lord, I will go to war
it's you who I'm fighting for
when so many abuse you
and your glorious name
followers that confuse you
with their deepest shame

Happiness and misery
are merely different shades
when we see past duality
life and death will fade
life and death will fade
Track Name: You
You made an introduction
in the morning sun
I looked on into the afternoon glow

The next time we met
I was looking through the trees
when I saw you staring back at me
so I got down on my knees
and said, "please."

Merciful Lord,
I am burning to learn how to love
Oh my Lord,
I am yearning to know
the word
and the way

The third time you came
and spoke in secrecy
of all the things I am to do in the world
You said I am everyone and alone

So I am listening, Lord
with silence, patiently
I'll surrender all my dreams to be
free as the man you want me to be
Track Name: Diamond in the Sun
Some movie screen in my brain
silently shows me soft memories
tape loops of pain on repeat
broadcast sounds of songs in a dream
images in black and white
off the reel and into the night

Your face shined like a diamond
glistening bright in the hot desert sun
when we walked on sands of time
the world was hours and ours alone

Then he hit me with that right
and I saw the world turn
to a place of cold desire
as it burned in a bath of fire

My love shined like a diamond
glistening bright in the hot desert sun
when we walked on sands of time
the world was hours and ours alone
as I moved through suffering
you belonged to everyone

My love shined like a diamond
My love shined like a diamond
My love shined like a diamond
My love shined like a diamond