Amy Ryan - My Escape (EP)
Self-released
***1/2
Hailing from Queensland, Australia, Amy Ryan is a multi-award winning young singer-songwriter and accomplished acoustic guitarist, who can also play mandolin, piano and drums. This self-released and self-written 5-song EP was recorded when she was just 14 and released this past summer. With an ear for old-school traditional country and heartfelt ballads alike, she is a formidable young performer. On each track, she is backed by a skilled group of musicians utilising tasteful electric and acoustic guitars, fiddle, Dobro, banjo, pedal steel, keyboards and drums to craft songs that are easy to listen to and enjoy. Her songwriting has considerably blossomed to a completely new level as she beautifully succeeds in creating this thoughtful collection of songs. They’re retro, they’re soulful, they’re reflective and revealing. For one so young this is mature song-smithing and a remarkable opening to a new chapter in Amy’s musical career.
The acoustic strains of Let Him Go make for a beautiful opening refrain and her shared advice is easily caught. With its sensitive vocal tone, she conveys her truest emotional side supported by the best in attenuated stringed instrumentation. Haunting fiddle flows into a mournful steel guitar on the shiny centrepiece Walking Against The Wind, elevating the sad beauty of a song about a romance heading nowhere. On the banjo-led power ballad My Escape¸ she sings about overcoming self-doubt, accepting herself for who she is and her willingness to break free. Accompanied by a dramatic arrangement, she sings with a commanding sense of pure emotion. That weight is still there for Still With Me, as the instrumental arrangement—enveloping, full of confidence, elegiac—is filled with a lush melody and multidimensional, as she heads into a new place; breathy and soft—her sweet spot—learning the virtues of moving on but never forgetting a past relationship.
Having performed at most of the major festivals Down Under, visited Nashville, MerleFest and collaborated with many of Australia’s top stars, Amy Ryan is building up a nice little body of work. This latest release should raise her visibility as one of the most talented young rootsy singer-songwriters, of any gender, on the crowded Australian music scene. There’s only one shortcoming with this musical endeavour: she leaves us wanting more, much more.
December 2023