Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band :: "New Threats from the Soul"
I’ve written about the Kentucky-based multi-instrumentalist, label head, producer, and visual artist Ryan Davis a couple of times, and I have spoken of him much more than that. His influence is intoxicating and inspirational, while his sophisticated ability to write songs is something out of the dungeons of pure Dylanism. From his past life with the long-running brainchild, State Champion, the occult obligations of one of the South’s most eclectic and diverse music and art festivals, Cropped Out, and multiple side projects like Tropical Trash, Equipment Pointed Ankh, Davis’s output, and dystopian dedication to the process is what legends are made of. It would be the understatement of the decade to say that I am excited for the highly anticipated follow-up to 2023’s "Dancing on the Edge," from his recently established super group of melodic maniacs, and local liberators, the Roadhouse Band’s “New Threats from the Soul.” I’m beyond thrilled and thankful that Davis is ruling the landscape of language and mountains of melody just as he has for the last decade and a half. Co-existing on the same timeline in history as this guy is honestly something we should all be grateful for as we continue to spiral at a thousand miles an hour in the nothingness that is God’s majestic blackboard of deranged doodlings.
“Building songs from the ground up with friends are among some of the more enjoyable activities I’ve found to do with my time on earth.”
“New Threats from the Soul” has a delicate and poetic approach to the personal psyche of human design. “Right there and then, that’s where they’d begin…these new threats from the soul…” A line Davis spills into the emerald ether from his lyrical lungs as the sulfur skies part for the singing spirits to join him, Davis picks up exactly where he left off with his previous installment by demonstrating a diabolical dynamic in delivery, melodic mastery, and medicinal memory by kicking off the album with the “Desolation Row-esque” title track that wages a whispering war between listeners’ ears. What Davis achieves through atmospheric academia is exactly what his peers, and colleagues Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Bill Callahan, Stephen Malkmus, and the late David Berman conquered so courageously throughout their contemplative careers over the decades. Joined by a heavy cast of cosmic classmates, old friends, and radical revelators such as Will Oldham, Dan Davis, Lou Turner, Christopher May, Dan Davis, Will Lawrence, Davis’s partner Jenny Rose, and several others who all contribute to the feverish flames that make up the album’s brilliant spirit, “New Threats from the Soul” is a metaphysical masterpiece of our generation. Stretching across the sonic stratosphere with songs and gestural gems that shine and reflect over the crisis curves, and critical cuts of our freakish future, Davis delivers a subliminal body of work that summons community and connection just as his previous works have. Set for release on Sophomore Lounge/Tough Love on July 25th, “New Threats from the Soul” combines an all-star alliance's esoteric efforts with one of our generation's most gifted songwriters.
