RYAN FENNIS RETURNS WITH BOUNDARYLESS NEW SINGLE ‘OVERLOAD’
PRAISE FOR RYAN FENNIS
"Slinky, psychedelic soul grooves with blissed out production"
Bandcamp
"There isn't an artist in the country (heck, the world even) sounding like Ryan Fennis"
Purple Sneakers
"No doubt set for great things"
Peril Magazine
Canberra-based electronic artist and producer Ryan Fennis returns in 2020 with new single 'Overload'. Shifting from the soulful R&B of last year's Detour EP, 'Overload' twists into a layered array or warped horns and static guitars. Listen HERE.
Speaking on the music video, Fennis says: "I wanted it to look like a birds eye view sci-fi surveillance and abduction. I got the idea when I was in Sydney overlooking the city from a tall building, I could see the city morph and pulsate so I wanted to recreate that in some way. I liked the idea of instead of editing single objects and people I could manipulate the entire landscape. I screen-recorded a maps app then manipulated it in a bunch of ways."
As with anyone attempting to create something new, Ryan Fennis’ music is defined by the lack of guidelines in place. Freed from any responsibility to what’s come before, he finds room to experiment with a collage-style songwriting process and bent production sensibility that throws left-of-field samples and genres ranging from subterranean club music, psychedelic-tinged indie rock, jazz and new wave up against one another. Governed by intuition, innovation and a sense of authenticity, his music is a constantly evolving experiment in progress, always opening itself up to new styles while growing more refined and assured at the same time.
Growing up in the nation’s capital feeling distant from the music being released, locally and around the country, Fennis was initially drawn to outside influences as his songwriting talents began to incubate as an adolescent. Now, he locates inspiration from within, consolidating and refracting everything that makes up the Canberra he lives in through his own music and visual art: the landscapes, local dialects, iconographies, communities and creative collectives, weekly parties and more.
In 2019, the release of Detour saw Fennis receive praise from KCRW, FBi Radio, Bandcamp, Best Before, Peril Magazine and more for his undefinable, genre-defying mix of sounds. Following his debut headline tour and showcase at BIGSOUND Festival, ‘What You Want’ featured in Season 2 of Matt Okine’s comedy series The Other Guy. His forthcoming music is his most mature, purposeful and true-to-himself work yet, as Ryan Fennis continues to grow into his ever-mutating sound.