Detailed Reviews [Ryan Yard - 2017 - "The Nature Of Solitude"]

Prolusion. UK composer and musician Ryan Yard first appeared back in 2015 when he released the album "Chasing Time", and since then he has been a highly productive artist that now has more than a dozen albums to his name. The self-released album "The Nature of Solitude" dates back to 2017. and is the third studio album released by Yard.

Analysis. When describing this album as consisting of two album length instrumentals and that the landscapes explored are more atmospheric laden in nature, I rather guess many people will get associations in the direction of Mike Oldfield. In this case this is correct indeed, as Ryan Yard is exploring music using many similar features on "The Nature of Solitude". Both parts of this composition are elegant affairs that ebb and flow in intensity and orientation. The developments and alterations are careful and subtle, and the changing motions of the compositions come across as smooth, careful and very deliberate, always ensuring that a flow and motion is present and that nothing comes across as too dramatic. Careful atmospheric laden sections with acoustic guitar and piano as key instruments with as well as without floating voice effects and soft flowing interludes exist side by side with sacral sounding atmospheric laden parts with the organ in a starring role. World music elements and folk elements are given their moments to shine and elegant pastoral landscapes are given a visit here. Sequences with atmospheric laden flowing and emotional sounding guitar solo runs and left turns into more majestic landscapes with more of a symphonic progressive rock orientation come and go, and more dampened and delicate landscapes with orchestral texture flavoring will make their visits too. The moods explored and the landscapes traversed are compelling in nature and welcoming and accessible in style and orientation. While this is a 40 minute long production featuring two tracks this doesn't take away from the overall accessible nature of this production, and that the two parts here come across as a more unified creation that can't easily be split up into individual segments doesn't take away from that either. This is elegant and accessible music, while also being a bit on the challenging side of matters due to length and variation. It is a very organic experience in many ways, despite some of the sounds and instruments most likely being of a digital nature here. Just about the only flaw to be found on this album is a flaw rather subjective in nature: Namely that the shorter edit made of the album tracks focus a bit too much on the more calm and delicate parts of the material according to my taste in music.

Conclusion. If you feel that long instrumental progressive rock compositions are generally interesting and you thrive on exploring landscapes that focus on flow and momentum in a setting and orientation where being elegant and careful are important traits, "The Nature of Solitude" should be a production right up your alley. Those who tend to enjoy the music of artists such as Mike Oldfield and Rob Reed have a new artist of interest to explore with Ryan Yard.

Progmessor: February 2023
The Rating Room