New CD YOU WERE HERE out now on Simulacra Records!!!!!

Jeff Ryan is a drummer/multi-instrumentalist who resides in Dallas, TX .
His ambient solo work is under the moniker
Myopic.

Myopic was recently featured on the Violitionist sessions. Check out the live video here.

Jeff plays, has played & recorded w/:

St. Vincent, Sarah Jaffe, the New Year, the War on Drugs, Blue Mountain, Thao w/ the Get Down Stay Down, Pleasant Grove, myopic, Crushed Stars, the baptist generals, Daniel Hart, the boomboombox, Sean Kirkpatrick (nervous curtains), Fury III, Doug Burr, the Rodeo and Colin Herring

Labels worked w/: 4AD, Sub Pop, Kill Rock Stars, Secretly Canadian, Touch and Go, Badman Recording Co., Glitterhouse, Kirtland, Simulacra

For licensing inquiries, contact Static West.

PRESS

Check out the feature in Modern Drummer

Lush, sweeping, emotionally resonant music - diffuser

Settles on you like an intimate meditation. The always fascinating precision sound is one that you know is experimentation, but conveys itself with great ease; feeling as natural as breathing. Ryan paints a landscape rich in color and void of monotony. - nanobotrock

Mixes simple drone aspects–calmly repetitive piano, a softly echoing violin, and rising percussion–to create something that wouldn’t have felt out of place on the latest Sigur Ros or GY!BE records. Like the best instrumental music, “Jura” feels familiar but also otherworldly. Listening to the softly drawn bow of the violin as it plays against the gently struck piano keys, you can almost remember some wisp of a memory associated with these sounds. There is a beauty and a casual ecstaticism at work here that captures that unbridled feeling of joy .

Toner continues his methodical and thorough breakdown of the inter-connectivity between ambient music and the darker shades of indie rock.That careful use of insistent beats and nostalgia-tinged electronics winds its way deep inside your head and refuses to budge.percussion is at the forefront and the electronic flourishes all serve the needs of that chugging beat before fading away again into some ephemeral haze.– beats per minute

We Were Here is the electronic EP with not too many electronics, a rock release without overwhelming rock, and a jazz recording that swings but in its own way.
The minimalism returns throughout, as it does during the intro to “6of1″, as a simple four-note melody repeats itself over and over before it unfolds and reveals the beauty that is attracted by its simplicity. That can also best explain the contributors to this EP, so while Myopic is very much a Ryan venture, he also brings in Daniel Hart (violin), Jason Reimer (guitar), Todd Gautreau (guitar), and Stuart Sikes (guitar and waterphone) for the journey. On the progressive rock side of things, the tracks here sound like the moodier moments of all of those songs you discovered while reading a library book or discovered on an obscure German-based blog. On the outset it sounds very electronic, which comes from Ryan playing an organ and a Korg, but it’s electronic in the sense that Herbie Hancock or Yes are electronic, it’s merely an ingredient to what Ryan, as Myopic, helps to create here.
The sound of We Were Here is varied so while you may not be certain on what to lean on, embrace whatever Myopic throws out and you’ll start to feel the glory of an incredible musician and composer. It’s the existence of what existed, discover what was Here before we are no longer. -
the vinyl district

more press:

NPR
the north texan
eatsleepbreathe
dallas observer
newsok
dallas morning news

“It’s literally about doing something before it’s too late,” Ryan explains of the record’s title track. “I wrote and recorded the song ‘we were here’ in one day, which perfectly encapsulates the meaning of the record, as in ‘You’re here now, so do something that means something to you.’ I literally grabbed every instrument that I had close to me, hence the name myopic.”

Ryan, a self-taught musician, started playing drums at an early age, continued in bands throughout high school and college, and started to get critical recognition when his group Pleasant Grove began touring in the US and Europe.

It was around this time that Ryan’s friends, the Grammy–nominated engineer John Congleton and Grammy–winning engineer Stuart Sikes, hired Ryan to play and record with St. Vincent, Sarah Jaffe, The War On Drugs, The New Year, Crushed Stars and The Baptist Generals, among many others.

MYOPIC - Plays in Pieces CD

REVIEWS

Ryan's solo, instrumental project, Myopic, born of ideas surrounding a commissioned theatrical score, slays those same beasts...but with more instruments. The seven-song release, Plays in Pieces, feels familiar, warm and plays like a soundtrack to a movie you know you've seen but just can't place, and that's such a good thing. "As Much As You Can III" is Ira Glass' dream transition music with its tinkling bells that morph into something intense and dreamy, sensitive and bombastic at the same time. "Things I Saw" showcases Ryan's restraint, beautifully simple piano contrasts with Rebecca Howard's dramatic violin resulting in a track that feels like it should play over the close of a tear-stained film, perhaps the same film that opened on better times with the driving, poppy "Fixture."

Because it's layered, dramatic and emotive, it might be tempting to just lump the impressive project in with no-vox bands like Explosions in the Sky, but, as Myopic's name implies, that would just be shortsighted. - dallas observer

Check out the review on NPR

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