Ryan Farrar is from Roselawn, Indiana, and recently released the disease. As you could have guessed it’s about our current times. He explains, “I effectively made myself into a character in a concept album (or EP), while blurring the lines between commenting on our society at large and telling my own personal story; my ultimate goal is to help cure the disease of hate which is a plague upon our world, while we await a cure for covid19 and cope with all of the other drama that surrounds us in the year 2020.”
After a short intro entitled "exposure" the EP begins with “The Disease” where he sings about Covid, Donald Trump and plenty of other things that are on everyones mind. I liked the lyrics and enjoyed the melodies. When he sings it sure feels like he means it which was great. The instrumentation was great. That being said I couldn’t help but notice that the drums were not in the pocket at times. Next up is “Small Minds” which is social commentary about everything which is going on in western society. It’s political and it’s pretty obvious which side of the fence Farrar is coming from. The best song and highlight is “F**k Around” mostly for the fact that the vocals are catchy and I was impressed by some of the instrumental changes. Lyrically, he talks about more relevant issues but mostly about health care. Great song. Last up is “Find Out” which is another solid song and reminded me of a ’90s rock/alternative song. I have to say I thought the songs were well written and I enjoyed his passionate lyrics. That being said this release is extremely lo-fi. As an engineer and producer for over twenty years I think it would greatly behoove the artist to start working with an engineer or producer who can help with not only the technical issues but things like timing. If that’s not possible I know learning and implementing more about engineering would benefit the power of his music as well as the message behind it. One pointer I will give him is that the vocals on these songs were on top of the music. There are tools which almost every DAW has you can use like compression and EQ so these elements can blend together. In this particular situation cuts at around 700 hz and two or three dbs of gain reduction on the vocals with a fast attack and slow release would have helped. That is really just the tip of the iceberg as far as improvements that could be made to the fidelity of his music. Overall, these songs are very much of the times and I appreciated his passion on the subjects which I found attractive. Politically-minded music isn’t easy to pull off but I’m sure a lot of people will agree with his opinions. I wish him luck in his evolution and his subsequent release. This was an impressive start.
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