NYS Music 202​2

Tag: synth pop

  • Folk Artist Ryan Leddick Releases New Single “State of Mind”

    Capital District queer folk/rock artist Ryan Leddick released a new single, “State of Mind,” on Thursday, May 5.

    “State of Mind” fuses the acoustic folk-rock sound that Leddick regularly employed in his previous releases with synth-ladened overtures. The single marries his penchant for the simple and driving melodies of folk music with the complexities of synth-80/90’s pop.

    When I was creating this song all I could think about were sold geometric shapes from the 80’s and 90’s and cutting acoustic guitar rhythms and how they balanced each other.

    Ryan Leddick

    Leddick calls his single a fusion of folk and synth pop but upon listening to it you might find that his booming voice and imposing percussion sound more like a rock ballad. Or we discovered that rock music is actually what you get when you combine folk and synth pop.

    Ryan Leddick
    Photo: Mike De Socio //Design: Courtney Mann

    This expansion of Leddick’s sound came after her reconnected with his guitar during the pandemic. The synth sequences were in an effort to recreate what he called the “geometric shapes” of 80s and 90s pop music. “This mixture of acoustic guitar, electric drums, and synths always seemed to paint a geometric landscape in my mind,” Leddick explained.

    It might just be modesty on Leddick’s part but the most notable part of “State of Mind” is Leddick’s careening voice which when it first surges onto the track appears Adele-esque in its depth and control. His voice often quavers as if he’s getting choked up sharing something personal with us, giving his music an emotional introspection.

    The hook repeats the lyrics “this is my state of my mind”. It might be slightly heavy-handed, but you certainly can’t say Leddick didn’t put his heart into it.

    “State of Mind” marks his second collaboration with producer and musician Carl Blackwood of the band Bendt and Mastering Engineer Carl Staff. Blackwood also received instrumental and mixing credits on the single.

    As of now, the single is expected to be part of a larger body of work Leddick plans to release either this year or in early 2023.

  • Peter Stone’s Debut EP “Unlabeled” Delivers Eminently Listenable Artistic Vision

    Peter Stone’s debut EP, “Unlabeled“, delivers an eminently listenable and creatively integral album. It’s a work whose influences are clear—R&B vocals, 80’s synthesizers, pop beats—but who’s originality and creative vision are even more evident.

    Stone’s work features a knack for melodies that are sonically complex and rich with texture but that are, nonetheless, earworms that stick with you as you listen. Even though he recorded the album in 2020 during lockdown in his native Italy “when he couldn’t have any contact with anyone [which] was a really tough time” his ability to guarantee head-bobbing tunes belies the conditions under which the EP was recorded.

    Although his ability to do so appears effortless the quality of the music suggests it likely wasn’t. Rather it was the product of a detailed process of intentional musical choices from his myriad influences. On “Cold,” the album’s likely hit, his mix of R&B crooning and 80’s synthesizers combine to make what is ultimately a pop song of the highest order.

    Stone doesn’t have an aversion to pop music. Even if we admits that it’s not one of the guiding inspirations of his musical process.

    “Pop is one of the genres I’m up to put myself in even though [I’m not] mainly inspired by it when it comes to the writing and the production of my songs,” acknowledged Stone.

    Even if it isn’t his main inspiration there’s no denying that it’s the outcome. On “Lead Me”, the first song on Peter Stone’s debut EP, he sings “She’s dancing on the floor/She’s moving on the floor” over pulsating synths and basses.

    His obvious talent for creating uniquely creative, yet accessible music is on delves into new spaces with “Save Me” and “Trust.” The first is an emotional piano ballad, with Stone playing the keys, that while still feeling slightly like a young artist’s imitation of what they think an emotional song should sound like; has lyrics that effectively portray a person that’s fractured and realizing that they have to put themselves back together.

    pietro

    On “Trust” Stone exhibits a mature understanding of song composition that is reflexive of a clear creative vision, executed with purpose. The song is a three-parter but to say more would spoil the mix of delight and intrigue one feels at its transitions. All of which are unlike both each other and the rest of the songs on Unlabeled offering a glimpse into Stone’s multidimensionality as an artist.

    His multitude of influences might have created a genre blending debut but ultimately all that matters is that once you listen to Peter Stone’s debut EP…you’ll want to listen to it again.