Ryan O’Connell’s latest album, ‘The Weather’s Been Fine’, perfectly illustrates a common sentiment many of us have faced- ‘languishing’, from a musician’s perspective. The slacker folk album is also a concept album, with each track reflecting a different stage of existential burnout.
Cannonball Man
With a short run time of 2:09 seconds, the track manages to not only pique the listener’s interest with its engaging, fast-paced rhythm but also draws you in with its fun guitar groove and alternative rock-leaning vibe. Here, the artist’s realization of their isolation becomes the overarching theme and is paired in contrast to the energy of the song, almost sounding like it’s been thought of from the lens of hindsight, except it’s happening in the present.
Bleach Dreams
The follow-up to the previous track talks about the artist’s slow unravelling with their psychological state. - the feeling of throwing many ideas at the wall, hoping something would stick. With lyrics like “coffee tasted like burnt out dreams” and the idea of the artist having a “communion with mice” the lyrics balance a more humorous tone with their current state of burnout. Musically, we get a more mellow pacing and instrumentation, which match the drawl-style of delivery from the vocalists.
Mirror Coat
This track delves deeper into the artist’s inner self critic- with his disillusionment stepping in and out, almost as if it were a character within the story. The instrumentation in this song brings in a bit more of an atmospheric vibe, maintaining an undercurrent grunge aesthetic, while the tone is a lot more ‘defeated’ in that sense, and the same is echoed by the vocal delivery.
Peak Gold
With this track’s theme being existential crisis fatigue, the artist again brings back the dichotomy of bemusement and burnout. With a mellow pacing but a chirpier delivery style, ‘Peak Gold’ has a slick guitar groove that’ll get the listener on board. The distortion growing louder towards the end, perhaps reflects the artist’s inner turmoil or even... Impending doom.
The Weather’s Been Fine
The title track, with the shortest runtime of 1:37 seconds, acts as the concluding piece of the album, bringing in a raspier vocal quality and a distorted instrumentation to reiterate the theme of existential burnout. Here, the musical tone is more chirpy in contrast to the foreground vocals doubling down on their signature nonchalant aesthetic.
The album, on the whole, is super catchy and quite relatable in our current timeline. The lyrics being a key takeaway, the album, in all its ruggedly handsome charm, might find itself being a safe space for many a listener.