Leaving The Coral behind after their fifth album, Bill Ryder-Jones began to approach life as a solo artist.
As much influenced by Django Reinhardt and Ennio Morricone as The La’s, the dextrous guitarist began focussing on soundtrack work. A free EP earlier this year was designed to accompany a short film, while the musician was recently inspired to bring an Italo Calvino novel to life.
‘If…’ began life as prose, with Calvino meditating on the nature of creative outpourings in ‘If On A Winters Night A Traveller’. Suitably fired up, Bill Ryder-Jones began transforming the novel into a lush, orchestral context.
Centred on his guitar playing, the sounds of ‘If…’ are derived from some classic movie soundtracks. A direct point of inspiration was Abel Korzeniowski’s off-kilter soundtrack for Tom Ford’s work ‘A Single Man’ its emotive orchestrations wrapping themselves tightly around the narrative.
Steeped in modern classical output, ‘If…’ also nods towards psychedelic heroes such as Syd Barrett. Recorded in various locations around Liverpool, the album used everywhere from the Grade II listed warehouse Elevator Studios and his mother’s house.
An intriguing concept, ‘If…’ works as a fine studio album in its own right. Severed from Calvino’s prose, Bill Ryder-Jones has constructed a series of tracks which easily build into their own narrative.
Out now on Double Six, you can stream ‘Give Me A Name’ below…
Bill Ryder-Jones ‘Give Me A Name’ by DominoRecordCo
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