Independent singer-songwriter-musician Ryan Hamilton is scheduled to release his latest album, Haunted By The Holy Ghost Friday through Wicked Cool Records. Coming a little more than a year after his most recent solo recording, 1221, the 10-song presentation is an enjoyable new offering from Hamilton. That is thanks to both its musical and lyrical content. The three singles the record has already produced – ‘A$$hole’ ‘Paper Planes, and ‘On The Edge’ – do well to make that clear. ‘Paper Planes’ is easily one of the most standout of the songs that shows the strength of the album’s overall content. It will be discussed shortly. While not a single, ‘Sad Bastard Song’ – the record’s penultimate entry, is another notable entry here. It will be discussed a little later. ‘Yeah, Whatever,’ which comes a little earlier in the record, is another notable addition to the album in terms of its musical and lyrical content. When it is considered along with the other songs noted here and with the rest of the album’s entries, the whole makes Haunted By The Holy Ghost a welcome addition to this year’s field of top new independent albums.
Haunted By The Holy Ghost, the latest album from Ryan Hamilton, is a record that audiences established and otherwise will agree was well worth the wait, having been delayed by nearly a month due to production problems getting it out on certain platforms. The 10-song record entertains from beginning to end of its 43-minute run time. The trio of singles that the record has already produced makes that clear. ‘Paper Planes,’ which is one of that trio of songs, makes clear how much this album has to offer. The three-and-a-half-minute song immediately grabs listeners with its light musical arrangement. There is something about the combination of the instrumentation and Hamilton’s vocals here that lends the whole to comparison to certain works from the late, great Tom Petty. That is meant in the most complimentary fashion possible. Audiences who take the time to take in the song will hear that through the combination of the steady time keeping and classic rock influenced guitar and keyboard arrangement. The poppy vibe is so subtle, and in being so subtle, makes the whole so infectious and fun.
The positive mood that the song’s arrangement sets pairs well with the song’s equally positive lyrical theme, which comes across as being a key, familiar statement encouraging listeners to face the emotions they feel in difficult situations in a healthy way, and just let them go. Yes, it is easier said than done, but when done, it really does help, and Hamilton’s encouragement here certainly delivers the message in a way that will resonate loudly with listeners. The inferred theme is presented in the song’s lead verse and chorus as Hamilton sings, “When you’ve just about had enough/Trying hard not to interrupt/You feel it coming and you’re gonna explode/Kick ‘em to the next area code/You tell yourself to just calm down/You got flipped/Turned upside down/When all you wanna do is bitch and moan/I think I need a moment/And a microphone/Fold your worries into paper planes/And watch them fly away/Send them singing into the sky/And try to save some face/Write a letter with your complaints/Be explicit and profane/Fold it up into a paper plane/And watch it fly away.” He continues in the song’s second verse, “When you’re feeling turned inside out/Trying hard not to twist and shout/You feel it coming and you’re gonna explode/Kick ‘em to the next area code/You tell yourself to stop, think/But all you’ve ever known is tongue-in-cheek/When all you wanna do is bitch and moan/Give me a moment/And a microphone.” From there, Hamilton reprises the song’s chorus, reminding audiences to let those negative thoughts and emotions just fly away. The whole is such a welcome positive message that everyone can use time and again, and when it is paired with the song’s equally positive musical arrangement, the whole makes ‘Paper Planes’ a key example of what makes Haunted By The Holy Ghost such an enjoyable new offering from Ryan Hamilton.
‘Paper Planes’ is just one of the songs that makes Hamilton’s new album so engaging and entertaining. ‘Sad Bastard Song’ is yet another notable addition to the record. The country-western vibe established in this song is such a stark contrast to so much of the album’s content. From the beginning to the end of this, the album’s penultimate entry, the pairing of the song’s instrumentation and Hamilton’s vocals lends itself collectively to works from the likes of Neil Young while also maintaining that vintage sound that used to fill the old honky tonks of the south so many decades ago. It is an intriguing juxtaposition in the pairing, but it works surprisingly well here.
The somber mood set through the song’s arrangement does well to pair with its lyrical counterpart. That is because it really is one of those songs…at least until it reaches its amped up take of ‘All My Exes Live in Texas’ as part of the whole. That brief cover would make Hank III proud with its outlaw country vibe. The main body of the song however, finds the song’s subject lost in his own misery as Hamilton sings, “Here’s another sad bastard song/For losers out there like me/I don’t wanna grow up/I know my s**** f***ed up/I’m gonna get stoned and watch TV/I raise a glass to the unemployed/Because they’re doing the best they can/They do whatever it takes/I love the …/I gave some whiskey to a homeless man/Take your money and your brand new cars/Take your TV and your movie stars/And go, go, go/I’ll be out here in my beat up truck/Drinking beer/And f****** s*** up/Let’s go, go, go/Go, go.” If that is not an old school style country honky tonk drinking song – complete with steel pedal – then it is anyone’s guess what is. He continues in the song’s second verse, “Here’s another sad bastard first/For the losers out there like moi/Color you impressed/Yeah, I just spoke French/I think you owe me an apology/You can judge me anytime you like/But lemme tell you/When you rest your head/I’ll be under my sheets/Just your Mrs. and me/She loves to slum it here in my bed/Take your liquor and expensive wine/Your trophy wife was a waste of time/Just go, go, go/I’ll be out here in the woods because/That’s just the kind of s*** a country boy does/Just go, go, go/Go, go. From there he repeats, “drink” multiple times over before eventually noting he needs a drink and sleep. Again, here is a full-on vintage country western song whose lyrics and music alike make for another fully engaging and interesting work. It is yet another key example of what makes Haunted By The Holy Ghost so interesting and certainly not the last example, either. ‘Yeah, Whatever’ is yet another example of how much the album has to offer.
‘Yeah, Whatever’ comes only a little ahead of ‘Sad Bastard Song,’ serving as the record’s eighth entry. The song here presents an arrangement that boasts its own unique identity separate from those of the album’s singles and the other songs examined here. In the case of this song, the arrangement throws back to the pop rock sounds of the early to mid-1990s. The first comparison that might come to some listeners’ minds here is to works from the likes of Gin Blossoms and to a slightly lesser extent, Vertical Horizons. The staccato notes in the guitar line and the layered vocals, which create a nice harmony, pairs with the arrangement’s rhythm section to really bring out that vintage pop rock sound. It’s hard to call music from the 90s vintage, but that was two decades ago. Getting back on the topic at hand, the arrangement overall is interesting especially considering the fact that the song’s lyrical theme comes across as centering on the all too familiar topic of a broken relationship.
The inference about the lyrical theme here comes as Hamilton sings in the song’s lead verse and chorus, almost cynically, “You sit all alone with your color TV/Your head starts to glisten in spite of the freeze/We don’t have to stay friends/Let’s pretend to be enemies/ Yeah, whatever makes you happy/Whatever makes you beautiful/Whatever leaves you satisfied/’Cause I’m out of time/For now.” There is a small portion of that opening verse that is tough to decipher sans lyrics, but the rest of the verse makes clear the thoughts and emotions that the person here is thinking and feeling. He continues in the song’s second verse, “You’re paranoid/As you look me up and down/I’m soaked in gasoline…/You sit by the phone with your tongue hanging out/You cradle the flies/In the back of your mouth.” There is a little bit here that is difficult to decipher, too, but overall that sense of cynicism and anger is just as much on display. It continues in similar fashion in the song’s third and final verse, too. The end result is a song that is just as accessible as any of the other songs featured in the album. When it is considered along with the other songs examined here and alongside the album’s singles and the rest of its entries, the whole of the record makes Haunted By The Holy Ghost another welcome new offering from Ryan Hamilton that is also among the best of this year’s new independent albums.
Haunted By The Holy Ghost, the latest album from Ryan Hamilton, is a welcome new offering from the veteran singer-songwriter that was well worth the wait. It proves so engaging and entertaining through its musical and lyrical content alike, as its current trio of singles shows. They are just some of the songs that serve that end. The songs examined here are just as strong as those songs. When all six songs are considered along with the album’s remaining entries, the whole makes the album overall a fully engaging and entertaining work that is among the best of this year’s new independent albums.
Haunted By The Holy Ghost is scheduled for release Friday through Wicked Cool Records. More information on the album is available along with all of the band’s latest news at:
Website: https://Ryanhamiltonmusic.com
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