by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_)
Ryan Power has been developing his inspirational brand of surrealist pop for over two decades, earning a glowing reputation from peers and fans alike. There’s a majestic nature that’s equal parts lighthearted and emotionally invested, but despite the glossy shimmer, Power’s music has a weight deep within the sunny exterior. Over lush synths and jazzy rhythms produced with unflinching radiance, Power opens his world to us, transporting the listener in real time through ups and downs, a landscape of anxiety matched with a breezy sense of humor. While he’s been busy collaborating over the past few years with Fievel Is Glauque and playing in Turbo World, it’s been three years since his last solo album, Mind The Neighbors, a mostly stripped back affair. He returns in vivid splendor on the eclectic World of Wonder, out January 19th via Feeding Tube Records (Sky Furrows, Big Blood, Tashi Dorji), an album that blends quirky psych pop with bedroom jazz, soul and prog rock odysseys.
“World of Wonder,” the album’s lead single and title track comes at the tail end of the record, the final sentiment after a trip through cosmic soft pop bliss. It’s a chance for Ryan Power to unpack all that came before it and simply marvel at the universe. For all its myriad flaws, there’s still wonder all around us, and with lulling keys and processed percussion, Ryan Power takes us to a land of bent and dreamy jazz pop bliss. The shapes and landscape are in a state of hazy drift, led by the woozy croon of the vocals and the soft yet mesmerizing ease of the progression. In the video, directed by Power himself, we’re invited to simply gaze upon the wonder of a caterpillar in motion with some picture-in-picture interpretive dancing that really ties it all together.