Thursday, April 13, 2017

Band Review: Ryan Boam


As I check out links for Ryan Boam for this review, I suspect he followed me not as a musician, but a fellow liberal Mormon. That's not a reason not to review, because there are good songs here. It is a reason to not be surprised if there's not a Youtube channel or many of the other common resources.

Not needing listeners also provides some freedom, especially if you are otherwise gainfully employed. So while there are full-length songs, there are also two standalone riffs (one rock, one metal) that are just fun. They are fun to hear and were probably fun to play; if they never end up in a full song it doesn't have to be a tragedy.

There is also a small instrumental - "Jonathan's Awakening" - that appears to be a segment of a film score. It is truly beautiful, though probably less representative of Boam's overall work than "Six-Stringed Heart" which speaks both to having feelings and to being a musician. With a deceptively low-key sound and full of good guitar, that seems to be Boam's specialty. In addition, while "Murphy's Son" is enjoyable on its own, having both a final and demo version available provides a nice contrast.

I was glad I took some time to listen to Boam's Soundcloud page. It is worth checking out.

This may also be a good time to remember that "amateur" doesn't mean badly done, but done for love.


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