It’s almost 20 years since Bill Ryder-Jones joined The Coral, back when John Major was still in Downing Street, Britpop was at its apogee and the guitarist himself was only 13 years old. As the youngest member of the group, Ryder-Jones’ obvious ability – just listen to his nuanced, sure-handed playing on those first two albums – marked him out as something of a prodigy. But his post-Coral trajectory (which includes playing on and touring Arctic Monkeys' 'AM') has been closer to that of a late, if not outright laggard, bloomer. On 'Satellites', the slowcore reverie which serves as the penultimate track of his third (and best) solo album, he effectively issues a mea culpa to that effect when he sings of how, "I got lost in myself/ And time got lost as well". There are good reasons for that, of course – Ryder-Jones spent much of his lost time struggling with a series of mental health issues that came close to derailing his career entirely – but, in recent years, has found his groove as a solo artist: an unhurried, understated, sometimes lugubrious one, but a groove all the same.
Really excited for this one
This album is awesome.
@pico – Great to hear – Judging by the singles it sounds a lot like Dinosaur JR or early Teenage Fanclub.