RYAN FENNIS SHARES SOPHOMORE EP ‘ICEBERG’
PRAISE FOR RYAN FENNIS
"Eerie and thumping"
NME Australia
"One of my favourite musical weirdos, Ryan twists and warps his guitar sounds, mixes them with those disconcerting vocals and comes up with something altogether unexpected"
Tommy Faith (triple j Unearthed)
"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
Canberran electronic artist and producer Ryan Fennis today shares his sophomore EP, ICEBERG. Listen HERE.
ICEBERG is a dizzying oscillation of genres and patterns from start to finish. Pivoting from the RNB laced work of the Detour EP, ICEBERG is a pirouette of indie rock, new wave and bass laced with a club music finish. Listeners are met with title track 'Iceberg''s pulsating bass, and staccato guitar plucks, before a sudden drum and bass crash. 'Watchlist' continues the up tempo journey through breakbeat then shifting to 'Fifteen''s punchy bass driven psychedelia. Previously released singles 'Dreamstate', 'Overload' and 'Save Yourself' follow, making for overall a distinctly Ryan Fennis experience.
Growing up in the nation’s capital, Ryan felt distant from the music scene there, 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. Through this, he seeks to give a distinct sonic and visual language to being Canberrean.
Having felt the absence of representation during his childhood growing up there, he’s now hoping to mould himself into that presence towards whom others can look. In doing so, his music becomes a compelling exercise in opening up a space for himself, a kind of real-time process of identity formation and self-discovery through his art. In 2020, Ryan Fennis' sound is his most purposeful and true-to-himself to date. Governed by intuition, innovation and a sense of authenticity, his music is a constantly evolving experiment in progress. Growing up feeling distant from popular music locally and nationally, the artist consolidates and refracts all that makes up the Canberra he lives in, through his own music and visual art.
As with anyone attempting to create something new, Ryan Fennis’ music is defined by the lack of guidelines in place. Finding room to experiment with a collage-style songwriting process and bent production sensibility, he throws left-of-field samples and genres ranging from club music, psychedelic-tinged indie rock, jazz and new wave up against one another. His forthcoming EP is his attempt to give shape and sound to what it means to live in, come from and identify with Australia’s capital city; ICEBERG is in part an analysis of life in Canberra, a body of work that remains a testament to Ryan Fennis' off-kilter craft.
ABOUT RYAN FENNIS
In 2019 the release of Detour saw Ryan Fennis receive praise from KCRW, FBi Radio,
Bandcamp, Best Before, Purple Sneakers, 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.