At the end of 2018, Ryan LeVine’s life cracked down the center. His band of six years, Wildling, called it quits and his relationship with “the one,” fell apart. Like it always had been, songwriting was the only tool he knew to use as a means of processing the loss and confusion. This time however, he traded elaborate home demos for simple voice memos and focused a lot more on the songwriting rather than the production.
Ryan started recording the EP in early 2020 at Boulevard Studios in Los Angeles and then connected with his co-producer Kevin Ratterman (My Morning Jacket, Ray LaMontagne) to finish the songs at Kevin’s home studio later that spring. The result was an introspective body of work which reveals a songwriter searching for answers. While he may not always find them, there is a resolving sense of peace that comes from the process.
Tell us about the genesis of your project. How did you get to where you are now?
How many words do you have for this write up? hah. Hard one to answer quickly, but the short version is that two major relationships (personal and professional) came to an end around the same time, and it left me with a lot of questions about the decisions I had made up to that point in my life, and unsure about how to move forward. The process of sitting with the questions and starting to look for answers, or clues at least, turned out to be this E.P. Good Things to Remember
How would you describe the highs and lows of being an artist?
I mean it’s all I’ve ever known really. That push and pull of high highs and low lows. I got signed to RCA when I was 19 just out of high school and thought I was going to be a rock star by 21. I got a little taste for sure, got to tour with some great bands and see this country many times over, but couldn’t quite take it to the next level for one reason or another. After we were dropped by RCA, I was lucky to land a song and small role in this film Jennifer’s Body, and that opened the doors to the world of SYNC which kept a roof over my head for many years (and still does…).
I started another band called Wildling that ended up getting signed to Warner Brothers, but spent too long making a record none of us really loved in the end, and even though we fought with everything we had, ended up letting it go a few years ago. I say all this only to highlight the moments where I’ve felt like everything is possible, and I give every ounce of mental, physical, and emotional energy to a project, and sometimes it doesn’t go the way you’d hoped or dreamed. So, I guess in short I’d describe them as painful and uncomfortable, but absolutely necessary for growth.
What’s a musical guilty pleasure of yours?
I don’t think it’s a guilty pleasure, but I do get made fun of for listening to John Mayer sometimes.
What are some sources of inspiration for you?
Any underdog story. Greta Thunberg. Nature. Open Space. Coffee.
Who is an artist that you look up to more than others today?
Paul Simon. I mean he’s been one of my favorite songwriters for a long time, but man… he put out the album stranger to stranger in 2016 at seventy-four years old, and it’s fucking awesome!! That’s crazy. I hope I can still be pushing myself to expand and explore writing and production in new ways when I’m his age.
Favorite activity to blow off some steam?
Rock climbing
Congratulations on your newest single “You Don’t Hold The Cards Anymore.” What inspired you to write this song?
“You Don’t Hold the Cards” anymore is really a love letter. Specifically it’s about re-visiting an old relationship, and all the excitement and hesitation that comes along with that. It’s about opening the door just enough to let the light in, and seeing how the room feels with that light, and then maybe opening it up a little more. It’s about self love in terms of creating clear boundaries and expectations for how you want to be treated in a relationship, but also remaining open to the possibility that things could expand and evolve in ways you’ve never experienced before. It’s one of my favorite songs I’ve ever written, especially because the lyrics change with every chorus, so the narrative feels like it’s growing and expanding, like a relationship.
Tell us about your song ‘Signs’ and how it came about
“Signs” was one of those “gift” type songs. The rare ones that seem to show up out of nowhere fully formed with legs and arms and all you have to do is put the right clothes on it. I wrote “signs” in about twenty minutes, and 95% of the final record was finished in one day. The first line of a song is always really important for me, it usually acts as a compass as far as where the rest of the lyric/story ends up going. That’s especially true with this song. There was so much emotion that came up for me after writing that first line, that the rest basically wrote itself. I’ve experienced a lot of “almosts” in my personal and professional life, a lot of high highs and low lows and I think this song captures what was happening to me on a subconscious level as I was processing all of it over the last couple years.”
What are some things you do to deal with anxiety and creative blocks?
I started doing TM about 3 years ago, and found that it really helped with my anxiety. Exercise for me is also really important, luckily I got that habit from my dad at a young age. But I think the thing that helps most when I’m feeling stuck is being in nature, hiking.
What’s the future looking like for you?
I feel energized right now to be sharing new music, and beginning this career as a solo artist. It’s crazy to feel like it’s the beginning, because I’ve been in this industry for so long, but it does feel that way and its actually really exciting. I’m really looking forward to sharing more songs in the coming months, and then for the EP to be released in October. Hopefully I’ll be hitting the road before the end of the year as well, as long as we can keep everything under control with Covid.
What inspires your visuals, videos, looks etc?
It’s been really inspiring to begin to think about these songs visually. I’ve always been drawn to videos that have a bit of a narrative to them, like the videos Rhye did with Daniel Kragh-Jacobsen. That being said, when creating visual content on a budget I’ve had to reign in some of my more elaborate ideas, so I’ve been thinking a lot more about color and tone rather than story. Recently I have fallen in love with the videos Lief Vollebekk made with Joe Connor. The concepts are simple, but they look beautiful and make me feel more connected to him as an artist.
What is the most embarrassing memory and most proud moment of your career so far ?
I think the most embarrassing memory is me in my first music video for RCA and how ridiculous I looked/sounded. We won’t name that band 😉 Honestly, finishing this EP is my most proud moment so far. It was really hard to make for a number of reasons, but I can say confidently that I’m really proud of the songs and the production. Grateful for the opportunity to make it.
What is the best advice you’ve ever gotten?
Make yourself happy first
Where do you think the music and entertainment industry is headed after this past year?Who the hell knows. It feels like it’s changing significantly every year to me. What does seem clear is that people want more music than ever, so if we can find a way to properly monetize that demand for everyone involved in creating it, I think we’ll be good. And once everything is under control, I do think live music is gonna be massive again, that desire doesn’t seem to change.
