Hello friends!

For this weeks blog I have decided to bring your attention to a really great album that I have been listening to a lot lately. It is the album that was released in January of this year by Tyler Ramsey; someone who I had never heard of until a few weeks ago. I was told that he played with Band of Horses and that he also played solo, and was really good live. So I decided to check him out, and boy was I happy I did.

I have been listening to this album on repeat for the past few weeks and I haven’t even come close to getting sick of it. It is just such a nice album to listen to. I find when I listen to this album I’m hearing more than just great music. With the music, there’s this feeling of calm, and happiness. The music sort of makes me feel like everything will turn out okay. I bet your thinking, “what the hell is this weirdo talking about?”. But I hope when you listen to the album you will feel like I do. Or at least feel something. Because what is music good for if it doesn’t make you feel anything?

Enough of my blathering, let me tell you about the album. Ramsey’s music sort of sounds like a cross between Iron & Wine and…well Band of Horses I guess. However, I wouldn’t say he really sounds too much like either. That was just to give you an idea. The album is primarily folk, with some country and blues mixed in. There is also a feeling of being by the sea in parts of the album. It’s as if he wrote some of these songs out in a boat or in a seaside bungalow.

One of the things that really grabs me about Ramsey’s music is his guitar playing. Now I’m not a guitarist myself, but I can tell that this man is a really talented guitarist. Just listen to the outro of the first song on the album, entitled “A Long Dream”, and how it fades seamlessly into the intro of “Ships”. And listen to the instrumental track “Birdwings”, where Ramsey really showcases his talent on the guitar.

This album contains some of the prettiest peaces of folk music I have heard in awhile. The last song on the album “Please Stop Time”, Ramsey sings along with the gentle plucking of his guitar, a story of having to leave the seaside and the one he loves, and how he wishes to postpone this by stopping time. The song ends with the crashing of waves, an ending very fitting for this seaside ballad.

The album isn’t all romantic folk ballads however. The song “Chinese New Year” is a downright country jam. And the song “Once in Your Life” starts out as a love song but then changes drastically. Ramsey begins the song by repeating that “once in your life your meant to find true love” and “I can’t wait for you to call me, I can’t wait another day”. By the end of the song, however, Ramsey is yelling “all I gotta do is get drunk! all I gotta do is get drunk and I’ll forget about you!” It’s nice to see this sort of playful “I just don’t give a shit” attitude emerge, showing that there is more to him than meets the eye.

In the end, you are left with an album that just gets better upon repeated listens. This has definitely been added to my list of top summer albums of 2008.

Take a listen to Ramsey’s excellent cover of Nico’s “These Days”:

Tyler Ramsey - These Days

and here is Ramsey performing “Ships” live:

Ramsey also recently played live on KEXP. To check out that performance click here.

Until next week…

-The Middle Distance Runner