Upon listening to this, it seems that JASON RYLAN spent most of his youth in his bedroom listening to 1980s bands such as The Human League and Soft Cell. Whilst I will be the first to admit that I have no great love for electronic music, here, it appears that Jason’s endeavours have paid off, as on this, his second album, he has managed to effectively marry electro pop with some clever and thought provoking lyrics. The CD was self-financed and self-released via his own company.
There are twelve tracks on the CD, all of which fall into the electro beat / electro-disco category. The first track on the album is ‘Soar’ which is destined for the dance floor, and has the sort of electronic pop beat which is designed to get the feet moving. The lyrics are uplifting, which is something that I found unusual as most electronica is fairly cold and emotionless.
“All we have is what gets left behind, just open your eyes, it will all work out fine.” This is a song about empowerment and is a good start to the album.
‘Survivor’, which follows is another electro pop tune, only this time slower, but with a nagging hook line of “Live your life. It’s your life.” Again this is quite good.
By the time we move on to ‘Goner’ things change a bit. The most notable change is the move to using an acoustic guitar, which adds a degree of warmth and feeling to the track. The lyrics are all about love, loss and finding yourself again and have some neat twists: - “It’s hard to choose a new road and a new direction/ Always stuck in my head, always second guessing.
Takin’ hold of the reins, lettin’ go of the pain/ Washing over my soul like the morning rain.”
Most of the album is in this vein, with songs that are always trying to look at the future and are filled with hope. The only exception to this is a cover version of Led Zeppelin’s ‘Stairway To Heaven’. I can understand why Jason has done this, after all, his website states his love equally for artists like Madonna alongside bands like Zep. But here I feel he has made an error of judgement. Electronic music is not the medium most suited to a track like this, and as a result, it feels unfocussed and lacking in passion. However, some disco enthusiasts may well love this track, but I found it difficult to listen to.
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The title track of the album, ‘2012’ is the centrepiece of the album and easily the best track on it. An electro beat protest song, this is a track that rails against consumerism and basically states that a lot of pain must come before the world situation sorts itself out. Starting off with the jingle of a cash register you get: - “Ladies and gentlemen please refrain. No pictures please, just spend the money.” Which seems to criticise global capitalism, before going into a vocal mantra of: - “World digressions, global tensions, deep recessions, fear depressions/ Hard learnt lessons, bring new directions.”
This I thought was absolutely great, and clearly shows someone who can aim music at the dance floor whilst thinking on a much wider scale.
‘Electric Dreams’ is another track on the album worthy of mention, being an instrumental which welds acoustic guitar lines to atmospheric electronics to produce a great sound.
Overall, this is the sort of CD aimed at a specific market, and whilst I struggle to imagine it crossing over to a wider audience, it will certainly be a hit with those that it’s aimed at.
Jason Rylan on MySpace
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