I’m not joking here, Matt Ryder is going places.
17 year old Birmingham-based indie/chill songwriter Matt Ryder has been on our radar for the guts of a year now. Ever since his single ‘Breakdown‘ came to my attention it’s been really cool following his gradual rising progress. Starting off in the music industry is a tough thing, especially when you are trying to make music that goes against the normal trends. Ryder’s style is a blend of minimal, emotive and somewhat downbeat – a sound that defies his tender age. Not many artists have their own unique way of writing music at the age of seventeen.
Many emerging songwriters push themselves into the commercial market, mimicking their favourite acts in the hope that something sticks. Meanwhile, Matt Ryder has done the polar opposite. He has been sticking to his guns, and continuously releasing his own melancholic and scaled back sounds. His latest single ‘Not The Same’ was released last week – it is his most polished to date.
Since starting this blog back in 2019, I’ve written five hundred and fifty music reviews. In this time writing I’ve only come across a select few new acts that I would confidently announce had a real ‘star quality‘. Matt Ryder is certainly one of these stand-alone talents (alongside, Genevieve Stokes, Mindchatter, Billy Nomates and Bad Flamingo). These artists not only make top music, their brave originality and consistent quality puts them on a different level. Throw in a lick of professional, clever marketing, top artwork, music videos and the formula is cracked. It’s hard to execute every element perfectly, these artists are my best examples this year. Over time, they all found their niche’s – Ryder will find his soon too.
Nothing screams quality quite like Ryder’s early single Breakdown.
Breakdown is a simple tune, yet the repeated guitar melodies somehow manage to become lodged in the listeners mind. I was humming this tune around London unconsciously for days afterwards before coming to the conclusion that it was a keeper.
Ryder is only emerging slowly into the public eye. He is not far off the tune that will catapult him onto the next stage of his development. I’d consider Genevieve Stoke’s recent rise to prominence very similar to what will happen to Ryder over the next few months, I’m sure of it. A slow and steady, natural rise . Let’s hope so – the Spotify algorithms have to step in and help him out surely!
More Music from Matt Ryder:
About Me
The Sound Sniffer is a music blog which is still only a baby – Founded and run by Kevin Coakley in early 2019. He is a music writer and ghostwriter. ‘The Sound Sniffer’ also runs gigs and showcases in London since Oct 2019. The showcases are picked from artists I find in my submissions inbox.
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