Romantic relationships are hard at any age. I look back about twenty years ago when I was eighteen and realize just how much of a mess my first relationships were. No one knows what they are doing at that age. No one really knows what they are doing now that I’m an “adult” but at least you’ve picked up a couple of things along the journey.
Venom by Ryan Rei is a song by song account of young love that started in high school. The album starts with “California Girl” which is the song that explains how they met. It’s made up of a couple of jangle-y guitar chords and what sounds like a drum machine. It’s catchy enough and has a ’50s pop vibe to it in some ways. It's one of the highlights on the album. The story continues with “At Love You” which is another catchy song revolving around guitar, bass, drums and vocals. Rei’s lyrics are honest and go through a lot of the issues people have when playing this game of love. “Venom” may sound sinister but it’s not as evil as it sounds. Rei explains, “Its intent is to organize the thoughts I had while these events were happening.” That being said the lyrics seem to be his pull toward her. “I Kinda Win” Rei explains is the only happy song he has about her. It certainly sounds like it. I would say it’s also one of the highlights on the album that is catchy with memorable melodies. “Always Losing You” is a lamenting piano ballad while “11 Million Minutes” is a very distorted rock song where he vents about the relationship that went bad. “Cat and Mouse” and “Fooled Again” seem to revolve around similar topics. “Anachronism” sounded like a play. This is a mix between spoken words and singing. “I'm Sorry…” and “On A Sunday” are strong songs and end the album. There are still some issues here and there technically with staying in the pocket but other then that this felt like a step up for Rei. As I mentioned before these types of albums are often cathartic experiences for the artist and I hope the process of making this album helped him get to the other side.
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