Welcome to our Digital Music Store!

We appreciate when you purchase music directly from us. The digital store is below so please browse what we have available. There's some exclusive music to be found at the bottom, so be sure to check that out! 

The physical mail-order store is now OPEN! So if you're looking for Mail-Order CDs go HERE!
 



The Matthew Ryan Online Digital Music Store...


 

Song for a Hard Year (Maxi-Single)

The Pines at Night

These songs mark a personal shift for me. What a hard time we're all moving through. The big stories affect the small ones, and visa versa. Always.

For the time being (maybe forever) I will be releasing the songs I write and sing under The Pines at Night. I just didn't feel I could emerge from this hard time in the same mode that I occupied
These songs mark a personal shift for me. What a hard time we're all moving through. The big stories affect the small ones, and visa versa. Always.

For the time being (maybe forever) I will be releasing the songs I write and sing under The Pines at Night. I just didn't feel I could emerge from this hard time in the same mode that I occupied before "it." There has been a ton of quiet thought and hard work behind this. There may be no audible change to you other than the name. And yes, it's still my voice and the songs I will welcome and offer to you at the center but my efforts have always been collaborative in nature. This is my way of honoring the long-time revolving gang of beautiful and talented friends that help me make this music and I love that The Pines at Night has a conceptual notion.

My hope here is to invite along into a new start.

Your purchases of The Song for a Hard Year Maxi-Single will go directly toward the budget for making a new album that I hope to record later this year. I've written a truckload of songs since Hustle Up Starlings. I'll be aiming to make the most distilled and useful beauty we can gather. The songs from the Song for a Hard Year Maxi-Single will NOT appear on the forthcoming collection.
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Life Is Beautiful

Matthew Ryan

“These three haunting, hushed songs were produced by Matthew Ryan in and from isolation, and are so intimate you can almost feel his breath as he sings. The first songs he’s ever fully written and composed on piano, they shimmer with the sorrow and sadness of this very broken year, but they're not just about this present moment - they can be as
“These three haunting, hushed songs were produced by Matthew Ryan in and from isolation, and are so intimate you can almost feel his breath as he sings. The first songs he’s ever fully written and composed on piano, they shimmer with the sorrow and sadness of this very broken year, but they're not just about this present moment - they can be as big or small as you need. Whatever form they take, they’re a wonderful and necessary reminder that hope and beauty always exist - no matter how hard you may have to search for them. And that’s what makes life beautiful.”

— Mischa Pearlman (Writer, Journalist, Poet and Friend)


And from yours truly...

I loved sitting at the piano and writing these. It’s been such a hard year. This for me was like finding switches that lit certain constellations at night. I can’t know how you’ll receive them. I can only hope that these songs and their wide minimalism offer to you some version of what they gave to me: A place for my anger, hope and sorrow, and an embattled but resilient faith in each other.

I couldn't have done this without my friends, they all have such specific talents and were so generous. So please understand, I share this with gratitude under my own name. But enormous thanks goes to Clay, David, Dylan, Gillian, Hans, Jack, Joe, Molly, Neilson and my family.

I hope you, the listeners and friends of this music, enjoy it. As always I hope they become good companions.
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A Short Film for a Long Story

Strays Don't Sleep

I Walked Away was the first song Neilson and I sat down and wrote together after 15 years. Strays had ended quite dramatically 15 years earlier. Quietly, in a van outside of Indianapolis. Neither of us wish to discuss what happened. Over the years our friendship proved durable, important and intact. Naturally we were compelled to once again
I Walked Away was the first song Neilson and I sat down and wrote together after 15 years. Strays had ended quite dramatically 15 years earlier. Quietly, in a van outside of Indianapolis. Neither of us wish to discuss what happened. Over the years our friendship proved durable, important and intact. Naturally we were compelled to once again explore this music that was unique to the way our talents and voices collaborated and enhanced each others instincts. The song came quickly as we sat together for the first time in years at the small mid-century table in my writing room in October of 2019.

The song cycle of A Short Film for a Long Story is intended to celebrate the beauty and melancholy in reclamation after a dark time. Sometimes those things that dog us have to be left behind. But first they have to be confronted, called out and dealt with.

Minimalist and pristine with every breath, word and sound unobstructed, that was our goal.
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Rivers - Exclusive 5 Track "Process Single"

Matthew Ryan

What is a Process Single?

These 5 tracks represent the process each song of mine goes through from birth to the version that is eventually shared with you. It's always some version of this work, exploration, feel and process... Sometimes shorter, sometimes longer... But always a sequence of events that generally goes from seed to tree, or wood to
What is a Process Single?

These 5 tracks represent the process each song of mine goes through from birth to the version that is eventually shared with you. It's always some version of this work, exploration, feel and process... Sometimes shorter, sometimes longer... But always a sequence of events that generally goes from seed to tree, or wood to table... Or whatever metaphor makes sense to ya.

I thought this kind of a listen might be of interest to some of you.

There's also bonus material, it's a photo of the lyrics with some notes I was leaning on for the final demo.

Please note that Track 5 on here is the moment the song arrived. It had started as an idea for a poem. I sat down at my keyboard with the limited words I had previously written and pressed record to see what would come via the inspiration of a moment. It's quite raw sonically and gets uncertain, but it does capture the moment some thoughts developed into a song. Both tracks 4 and 5 are quite raw sonically, but again, the hope is that some of you will find the process of interest.

The final version of Rivers was created with the wild talents of Brian Fallon, Corey Siegle, Brian Bequette and Hans DeKline. Please make your first listen via good headphones or speakers... Maybe even in your car? We paid a great amount of attention to the details in this recording and I want your first experience with it to be as beautiful as possible.

As always, I hope this song find you and yours good. Stay hopeful and smart out there. I hope this song and any of its versions become a good companion for you.

Thank you.

Always,
M. Ryan
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Current EVENTS

Matthew Ryan

WHAT THIS IS:

Current EVENTS is an 8 song collection of ambient instrumentals by Matthew Ryan. It's only available DIGITALLY via www.matthewryanonline.com and Bandcamp. If you love it, please share news of its release. This was a labor of love.

Current EVENTS is a minimalist collection of instrumentals, no voice or lyric. These are chords and
WHAT THIS IS:

Current EVENTS is an 8 song collection of ambient instrumentals by Matthew Ryan. It's only available DIGITALLY via www.matthewryanonline.com and Bandcamp. If you love it, please share news of its release. This was a labor of love.

Current EVENTS is a minimalist collection of instrumentals, no voice or lyric. These are chords and notes and sound with a purposeful depth of field and primal melodies, and mood. Essentially, they are tone poems. Some are quietly noisy, others are beautiful and brief. All are ambient, intimate and environmental feeling (by environmental I mean that they should participate in your surroundings, their intent is not to dominate your thoughts or surroundings). Each one took hours to perfect, even the shorter pieces. Tone and feel were paramount, I was looking for a very specific air. Each "song" flows from one to the next, not unlike a straightaway, or particularly cinematic line of trees. Continuity was my aim. It's about 22 minutes long.

HOW TO LISTEN:

Autumn is my favorite time of year, so vivid and constantly changing in air and look. I love the stark winters that follow up here where I'm living in Western Pennsylvania. Hills and rivers and trains, steel bridges and old architecture. And even still, the constant incoming of technology and information and the election. The troubles around the world and the country, the stresses and dissonance, and the seeming suddenness we've come to know so well. I wanted to make a companion to all that cinema. But I wanted it to operate without hype or force. Current EVENTS is offered to be experienced at a quieter to mid-level volume, it welcomes the ambient noise of wherever you live or what you're doing without invading your thoughts. Its intent is almost a soundtracking to you being leading women and men. Like Tom Waits said "All broken down by the side of the road, I never felt more alive and alone." That's what I tried to do here, to connect with those moments that sprawl. It's driving music, driving to work or stores or nowhere. Music for leaving and music for arriving. It's late night music, or rush hour music. Music for falling in love and being alone. Music for interiors. Music to make your friends worry about you... Hahahaha...

WHY I DID THIS:

I've loved the ambient work of Brian Eno, and the instrumental work of Ryuichi Sakamoto for years. The Cinema Paradiso pieces by Ennio Morricone have been constant companions for me since forever now. I've often thought instrumental music was the most generous music because it imposed no dialogue. It's pure, and allows each of us to immerse ourselves in our own stories and plots and beauties and aches. I've often found that some of my best lyric writing comes after a period of listening to a lot of instrumental music. Almost as if the absence of language reconnects me to my own interior. That's what I hope this collection offers to you. I don't pretend to be as proficient at this type of music as the artists I mentioned above, or even as my friends in Hammock and Our Ceasing Voice. I am a tourist when it comes to this. I don't consider myself a composer or even a particularly gifted arranger. But I am a pretty good at offering weather via sound and simplicity, and I love the process. Hopefully these pieces become ladders and ropes and hallways to your own thoughts. Ultimately, that's the goal. Again, at its root, I hope this collection offers you yourself. That's why there's no voice or language on Current EVENTS. I wanted you to hear your own voice here. It's my guess that that's what a song should always be doing, because in ourselves we find each other.

AND AS ALWAYS:

As always, when you purchase music, it helps artists to continue offering the work we do. It is always with a giant Thank You that I welcome your participation and advocacy. Music as a listener, and a creator, is an act of love. It really is. I always try to offer you the very best of what I'm capable of. I'm currently working on a new album that was produced by Brian Fallon (of The Gaslight Anthem). It's more in the vein of what you'd expect from me. Actually, I believe it speaks to much of the best of what I do in song and sound. But that's for a moment just a little further down the road. Expect that album in 2017. But right now, I hope you enjoy Current EVENTS. By purchasing this collection you make my continuing forward all the more navigable. So again, thank YOU.

PRICING:

To encourage you to listen to the collection as an entire piece I've priced individual songs at $2. The entire collection is priced at the very fair price of $7. I hope you'll consider buying the whole collection. Above all though, I hope that this music makes for a good companion.

LICENSING:

If you happen to be a film or television person and you're interested in licensing one of these pieces for something you're working on, please write me at matthewryaninfo@gmail.com
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Fallen Ash & Embers

Matthew Ryan

“Later on,
when we’ve all come down
and the streets are just a funeral
and the last event
is fallen ash and embers
we’ll drift and waltz and twist into nothing
we weren’t too bright, my love
but weren’t we something?”
— The Last Event


FALLEN ASH & EMBERS:

(Fallen Ash & Embers was mixed for listening via old school “over-the-ear”
“Later on,
when we’ve all come down
and the streets are just a funeral
and the last event
is fallen ash and embers
we’ll drift and waltz and twist into nothing
we weren’t too bright, my love
but weren’t we something?”
— The Last Event


FALLEN ASH & EMBERS:

(Fallen Ash & Embers was mixed for listening via old school “over-the-ear” headphones. But don't fret if you're without a beautiful pair of immersive audio isolation hi-tech ear muffs, these songs will sound wonderful via any system or speakers you listen through due to the beautiful mastering talents of Hans DeKline.)

Fallen Ash & Embers is an EP of 4 brand new songs gathered specifically for the cooler weather of 2019. Two are collaborations, and two are self-penned. This collection is intended as a short film of sorts for the ears. It runs right around 16 minutes from start to finish. It's inspired by the moment we're in, but not tied to. It's more interested in who we'll be after this fever breaks.


PRICING:

As I've said before, streaming is a beautiful tool for discovery. But it's getting harder for middle and working class artists to maintain sustainability in our efforts for our homes and our creative ecosystems. Please read the info about pricing below, I want you to understand why I'm doing it and what my intentions are.

So this EP is priced at $5 for all three songs. $2 per song, if you purchase just one or 2 of the songs. My aim is to treat my main collaborators (writers and arrangers, David Ricketts and Doug Lancio) as equals in this effort, what that means is for each album or song you purchase, right around $1 will go to David Ricketts & Doug Lancio. On a purchase of the full EP, roughly $1 will go to David and Doug, and about $2.20 will go to me. That $2.20 per sale of a full EP is what I will try and earn a living from and pay myself back for what I invested in these recordings, and as compensation for the endless data entry that accompanies the sharing of music these days.

If the numbers look weird or vague, don't forget that there are fees from Bandcamp so they can keep delivering so much independent music. My intent isn't to confuse you, but to try and explain the higher price and where it goes.

Hope all that makes sense. And above all, I hope these songs become good companions. I love this "short film" for autumn I'm offering to you guys. I can't wait to feel it moving along through October with us.
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On Our Death Day MAXI-SINGLE

Matthew Ryan

One of my favorite writers is the Irish Poet and thinker Seamus Heaney. He once said that every artist worth their salt feels a certain pressure during politically difficult times. He was referring to The Troubles in Ireland. I've been feeling this "pressure" watching our current events: the divisions and disinformation; the rise of
One of my favorite writers is the Irish Poet and thinker Seamus Heaney. He once said that every artist worth their salt feels a certain pressure during politically difficult times. He was referring to The Troubles in Ireland. I've been feeling this "pressure" watching our current events: the divisions and disinformation; the rise of authoritarianism, propaganda and tensions; and the seeming fundamentalist lean and zeal for profits and deregulation over the convulsing environmental concerns here in America and world-wide. I’ve always felt at the center of music there’s a humanitarian cause. We do these things to contribute not only our interiors, but to how we move through the time we’re living in, and hopefully even to what happens next. Rock n Roll and Folk and Poetry is powerful stuff. I’ve loved it my entire life. I work in it humbly. I felt compelled to share this song now rather then wait for a full album to be ready because of the “pressure” I mentioned earlier. It feels like an important time. Each us should do what we can to offer intelligence and beauty and conscience in contrast to this stormy weather. "On Our Death Day" is a love song. It really is.

I included 2 other recordings on the digital version of the "Maxi-Single" that I felt helped to enunciate my intentions concisely. Please note that only "On Our Death Day" and "And It's Such A Drag (2019 Version)" are available on the 7inch vinyl. But as I was saying...

Track 2 is a noisy reimagining of a song about an intimate confrontation with a narcissist. In the song it’s someone you helped along, gave your faith and time to, fell in love with. Only to finally conclude some hearts are monsters. The song is called “And It’s Such a Drag”, it was originally released as a folkier lament on my 2012 album, In the Dusk of Everything. This new version has myself and Doug Lancio bashing away at our guitars with the great Aaron “The A-Train” Smith on drums, and Kelley Looney on bass. I love the way this gang feels and sounds. I love how a gang can put a match to a song.

The 3rd Track (which is only available as a bonus on the digital version of this maxi-single) is a Leonard Cohen cover. It’s from his masterpiece, You Want it Darker. The song is called “Steer Your Way”. My version was originally recorded for a limited release 2017 Record Store Day vinyl-only tribute album called Like a Drunk in a Midnight Choir. I had recorded the song just after the 2016 election and Cohen’s death. The song is so brutal and generous. Part hammer and part loving compass, it helped to “steer” me back towards hope and solid footing that autumn I spent working so intimately with this masterful gang of words. I’ve loved Leonard Cohen’s work since I was 16. It feels right to include it in this song cycle, it says so clearly what needs to be said right now. I only wish that this was the Cohen song that every American Idol contestant chose to sing. We might then have that harder conversations we need to have with ourselves and each other… The organizers of the tribute album (Rand Foster in particular) were kind enough to let me share it with you here. I’d be remiss not to point out that Olly Knights of Turin Brakes sings the beautiful backing vocals you’ll hear. And my wildly talented old friend David Henry played cello.

Thank you for reading this. And thank you for purchasing music. I hope it offers some beauty and lightning.

Matthew Ryan
4/29/19
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