Meet the Amalgamator
Interview with Ryan Goodnight on 9/28/07, West Chester.
Jennifer Veale: Hello, this is Jennifer Veale. I’m here in West Chester, PA with long time friend, Ryan Goodnight. We’ll be chatting about his new album, his inspiration, and where he sees his music going in the future. Thank you for having me at your little home studio today.
Ryan Goodnight: Come on; you are more than welcome. It’s good to see you.
We may as well jump right into this, so tell us about your new album. I hear it’s a bit of a change for you.
Well, that’s right. The new album is affectionately called Amalgamation and it’s what I like to call a concept album. It is a bit of a departure from Carbon and Electronic Inside in the way that, with them, I was working on a bunch of songs and when I felt I had enough to make an album, I pulled together the songs that made the cut and made an album. With those albums, particularly Carbon, I was going with a ‘More is More’ ideology. I wanted them to be jam packed with as many good songs as I could fit.
So how is Amalgamation different?
Amalgamation grew into a completely different process. I started writing songs almost immediately after Carbon, and at the time I had just met my girlfriend, Melissa. I started to realize over the months that a lot of the songs I was writing were directly inspired by her or the experiences we shared.
It’s a lot shorter of an album than, say… Carbon.
That’s for sure. But it’s also a lot more focused. I had other songs that I could have put on it but they wouldn’t have fit the theme. This album was much more about keeping it simple and clean; minimalist. And I think it’s a better album as a whole, because of it.
So it’s an album about love, right? Amalgamation, as in the joining of two into one?
Yes…and no. But mostly yes. (Ryan, laughs) Let me see if I can clear that up a bit. It is about the coming together of two people in love. However, it’s not an album about love where everything is perfect. There’s pain. There’s anger. Because the relationship I was in wasn’t perfect.
That’s interesting because one of my favorite songs on the album is Integrity. I love the “combust me” part.
Thanks. That song represents one of our fights and the struggle we had. There was a lot of distrust on both sides of the relationship at the beginning. It’s kind of a challenge saying, ‘give me your best shot, I can take it.’
The lyrics are graphic; you talk about cutting each other. Yeah, that is actually a reference to a time when Melissa and I took a knife into the bedroom and…shared an intimate experience. It was really intense. I still have the scar on my arm from it (He displays his forearm with the remains of faded scaring down the underside). I gave her some blood that night, and we started to make our peace.
Wow; that does sound intense.
It’s something I’ll never forget.
What about the second song, Close Enough. What’s the story about this one?
Close Enough sets the stage, so to speak, for the things to come. Close Enough was written about a girl I was really into at the time. We had a short relationship that was really intense for me. I was pretty much head over heels for her. And then, almost without warning, she ended it and that threw me for a loop. I was pretty torn up over it. Close Enough was written after I had talked to her for the first time in a while, and I realized that perhaps we could still be friends or at least friendly. I don’t really talk to April too often these days, but that phone call and the few times we hung out afterwards were really important to my sense of closure. And… now that I think about it, it also may have added to my cautiousness when approaching love in the next relationship.
I remember April. Did she say why she ended it so suddenly?
She mentioned a couple of things; I mean there was a strange dynamic that developed between us. She was also a pretty focused and mature girl and she mentioned something about my maturity having something to do with the breakup. That hurt. I really try to find a balance in my life between being responsible, mature, intelligent person and just having a crazy good time. In Close Enough there’s a line that says “…I’ll grow up and see, if we can make this work.” That “grow up” part is a reference to my immaturity. I feel funny in my stomach every time I hear that line because it brings back all those emotions.
But it’s important to note that the song is about the courage to seek closure and acceptance that sometimes things don’t work out. I don’t hold any ill will against her. It didn’t work out. We still keep in touch from time to time. In fact, I should call her and see what she’s up to.
You really seem to be exploring your vocal range on this album. You sing falsetto on a couple of songs, the most prominent of which is I Whisper.
That’s right. I’m still finding my voice. There were no vocals on Electronic because I was scared of my own voice. I didn’t feel comfortable with it. Carbon was when I broke out and started singing over the music, and after that. I just couldn’t stop. I Whisper is a memory of a moment I had with Melissa. We were lying on her bed and the light was coming in thorough the window in just such a way that her body really looked like it was glowing. It was an image I couldn’t get out of my head. It was cold and I had to leave for some appointment. The song is narrative, it pretty much just describes that moment in time like it was a story. And the falsetto; I thought the tone better matched the softness of the moment.
So all the songs have little stories?
They do. I guess I can wrap up the rest for you. Amalgamation is obviously the theme of the album. I took the concept of having “chemistry” with someone and made it more literal, and then relate it to in chemical terms of old school alchemy. Like, the “lion in the sky” is a reference to the constellation of Leo which is one of the…uh…patron constellations of alchemy, so to speak. Which I’m also a Leo; so that fits. Ok, so what’s next, we already talked about Close Enough.
Lets see, that would be Trust.
Trust is pretty self explanatory. Melissa and I reenacted moment that occurred at one point in the relationship. So it was cool to get her voice on the album. She was pretty self conscious about putting her voice on it, but she came through for me.
So the next is Integrity, we talked about that. And then Bloom. Bloom is about being scared to find love. It can be such a strong feeling. It makes you strong and at the same time makes you weak. So, Bloom is about that contradiction. Hence the positive lyrics but the darker instrumentals.
Tower is about being overwhelmed. Working, the relationship, everything was coming down at this point and it was really a tough time for me. There’s a reference to the Italian word, “campanile” which means “bell tower.” I’m talking about the Tower of Pisa, ready to topple over.
Ok, how about Through the Earth?
I wrote this was when I knew I was going to be spending a month in China. I knew I was going to be away, and it’s about getting to her by any means possible.
Finally, If You Were To Go was written when Melissa was considering taking a job that would have required her to move to Maine. This is maybe the only song that is out of chronological order on the album. I wrote this toward the beginning of when our relationship was becoming intimate. It was a turning point. Had she gone, this album would have never existed. This song was my reply to her when she asked me how I felt about her leaving. But I think it works just as well at the end of the album. It’s a good closer.
I think that just about sums up the album. I’m told you are already working on new songs. Can you tell us about them?
I am. I’m currently recording. (He gestures to the guitar on a stand in front of what looks like a slightly larger than usual desktop computer.) Writing is what I really enjoy most. I had a few songs that didn’t fit the theme of Amalgamation that will be on this next album. It’s going to have a lot of guitar. Both electric and acoustic. I’ve been picking up my acoustic guitar lately and really loving the things that have been coming out of it. But I don’t want to talk too much about what’s coming next. You’ll just have to wait and see.
Will it be another concept album?
No. (He laughs and shakes his head.) Definitely not. This album was one of the most difficult things for me. I felt a sense of dedication to the theme and it really took a ton of self control to stick to the goal. I am really happy with the outcome, but I think my next album will simply be a collection of all the best songs I can write right now.
Well, I’m already looking forward to it. But for now, we all have plenty to enjoy with Amalgamation. How can people purchase your album?
Well, it’s already available on iTunes. I also use this distributor called CDbaby which is awesome for independent artists. They will ship you the entire album, with all the artwork and lyrics and everything. CDbaby will also allow you to download the MP3s of the album, so if you don’t want to use iTunes format you have other options. There is a link to both of these places right on the front page of my website, ryangoodnight.com
I love the album itself, with the birds here on the front. It looks really clean. And it folds out vertically which is cool.
The birds are hybrids of humming birds and octopus-es. Octopi? (He laughs) How do you say the plural of octopus? Anyway, they are the symbol for the album. They’re just a simple graphic image I was messing around with one day. I designed it to be clean looking and still be usable. I hate when I buy an album and the lyrics aren’t included. So, I made sure they were part of the artwork.
Ok, So we can go to iTunes for MP4s, and CDbaby for CD albums and MP3 downloads?
Yup.
Ryan, thank you for having me here. I really appreciate it. It’s been great talking to you.
Any time. Thanks for stopping by.