Stream Amber Ryann's Debut Album "Even When It Falls Apart"

On her bombastic debut album Even When It Falls Apart, Los Angeles multi-hyphenate Amber Ryann shares a rapturous glimpse into her hurricane of a musical mind. Over the course of ten caps-locked tracks — clocking in at an all too short half-hour of her most potent confessional anthems — she offers a frantic self-portrait of a life in free fall. From the reeling sucker-punch that was her mom’s cancer diagnosis (a grueling period put into visceral perspective with the recordings of hospital messages she splices at the end of “FALL APART”) to the innate existential and social anxieties we all face as people.

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At its core, Even When It Falls Apart hones in on the urgency to find hope even in your darkest moments. The first half of the album focuses on the raw revelations Ryann supplies from her own experiences, unabashedly pointing the microscope at her own vulnerabilities. Over the bounce of concussive beats on “FOMO,” she tries to break the spell of unhealthily comparing her life to others, a modern fixation that leads us to believe in other people’s idea of fulfillment instead of cultivating our own. While on “WHITE LIES” and “SITUATIONSHIP” she takes a sobering deep dive into the chaotic mess of chasing people you can’t have.

The back half of the album uses Ryann’s deeply intimate songwriting to extend this sense of healing in a more universal way. From the sonorous harmonies of “HIGH HOPES” to the thrumming electronica that rushes within “SAID THAN DONE,” she reconciles her need to focus on the good over the bad with the fact that it’s a constant battle to do so. Ryann’s debut album reveals a sonic realm as compelling as her incisive narratives — not to mention her ardent ambition. Not for clout or money, but for the chance to manifest her dreams as an artist as a trail-blazing independent artist.