Album Review: Ryat – Totem

A rather discreet release from a fairly unknown artist. Ethereal vocals counteract deep, booming biological beats that syncopate, skip, pause, speed up and slow down frequently and unpredictably throughout the album.

This natural, earthy approach towards music is reflected in the track titles – ‘Windcurve’, ‘Seahorse’ and ‘Hummingbird’ are three examples. The first: flailing harps, choral “oohs”, and drum machines that run faster and faster until the end of the track. The second: vowelled vocals try to make some sense of a skipping scribble of multicoloured, multi-tempo beats. The third: nothing like the impossibly rapid movements of the hummingbird – and unlike the rest of the album, almost void of synth beats, for at least its first half – with sympathetically-placed strings and piano.

Ryat’s Totem is a diamond in the rough of promo copies. It’s a beautiful little work with a big voice, yearning for attention. And it’s definitely caught mine.

-Bronya Francis

Taken from Notion Magazine Issue 58