So Unpredictable

To say Kieran Ryan's solo project is ambitious is putting it mildly. The sweeping, expansive record from one half of the now defunct Kid Sam features an opening track that chronicles the ascent of mankind, as well as a grandiose string section and plenty of songs that breach the five-minute mark.

He did have some help from a man who knows how to make big-sounding albums, though. Myles Wootton from The Panics worked closely with him on the record, though the circumstances were anything but grand. “We just talked about it at the pub. I knew Myles and I jammed with people here and there but nothing had totally come together. I can't remember who suggested it but one night we just decided we'd have a shot.”

There are definite similarities between Ryan's album and The Panics' output, and Ryan says that their shared influences, including The Triffids and Paul Kelly, was part of the attraction. “That feeling and that sound was part of it, and I was impressed with the gusto with which he approaches things.”

When it came to writing the record, Ryan drew on some songs that he'd been working on towards the end of Kid Sam, but also took a while to figure out the exact sound of the album. “I wrote many, many things and some you sort of play them to people and then decide never to play them again and then some you work into something and they don't work out, or they do work and they don't sit with other stuff. So I had to write a lot to get it right.” Mostly, he says, he made a conscious effort to write an impersonal album. “It feels weird when it has your actual name on it – mildly embarrassing.” This provoked a fragmented writing style. “It's usually just some kind of idea that strikes my fancy and I try to work it into something. But I never try and represent myself. There are a lot of odds and ends of silly articles from the internet, silly phrases and ideas and fragments.”

As well as Wootton, Ryan also worked with several other Melbourne musicians and friends fleshing out the record's densely layered songs. “I wasn't particularly concerned with forming a coherent band and then representing that band in a recording. We'd have a think about it and record a little bit and then have people come in and work on it.”

For this upcoming tour, Ryan's assembled a band full of formidable talent, with members of Mining Boom, Oh Mercy and The Panics all pitching in to help bring the record to life. Looking to the future, Ryan says he hasn't ruled out bringing some of the rockier feel of Kid Sam to his solo work. “It's nice to do [acoustic and rock music] in different ways, doing one kind of makes you feel like doing the other, but I can't really predict what I'm gonna feel like next.”