Take time out of the history of the world and what have you got left? Just stories upon stories that play out always in pretty much the same way, a collection of tales that all seem to take after another and a multitude of lessons that are learned and invariably forgotten. So, what have we got to look forward to? More of the same, most likely.
But that might just be the greatest blessing. We’ve all heard the news reports bragging about unparalleled disasters, and we’ve all heard modern prophets telling us that we’re nearing the end. It’s just that those things aren’t true, are they? Ryan Ruiz knows that things are designed to fall apart just so that they can give way to new beginnings.
That’s what “Soundtrack for a Riot,” Ruiz’s new album, delivers more than anything. This is a rootsy record, one anchored in the songwriting tradition of Dylan and the Dead, blended with the anger of late-70s British punks. Still, even those great artists were young once and anxious to change the world.
Just listen to the opening track, “They Don’t,” with its fancy, playful acoustic guitar fretwork, 60s folkie vocals and lyrics about the good ol’ days. It’s charming, it’s retro, but it’s not crying out for a repeat of the past. Instead, Ruiz is calling out to all the dreamers to come back out, try their luck, rewrite history if they can.
On the banjo-led, country-heavy “Hit the Road”, Ruiz pleads to those who have lost their faith to return to it as quickly as they can, and to seek out something new. What does doing the same thing all over again for the same results mean other than madness, the songwriter argues?
It’s not like Ruiz hasn’t had his own brush with the blues. He’s just strong enough to smile through the tears and use it as ammunition for his songwriting. On “I Don’t Know It All (But I Know It Some)” he politely rages against those selling phoney dreams. On the album highlight that is “Ain’t No Flowers Blooming,” he re-evaluates the hippie dream in this modern era of angst and uncertainty. And, on the blues-rock of “Dead at 250,” Ruiz is brave enough to slaughter one more holy cow before the show’s over.
Good intentions aside, Ryan Ruiz is a very talented songwriter and performer. “Soundtrack for a Riot” is better produced and warmer sounding than the vast majority of contemporary, rootsy folk and country records. His lyrics are ambitious, and both his anger and his optimism feel, to this writer at least, honest. The times they are a-changin’, but that’s not much to fret about.
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