We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Paths of Color

by Nina Ryser

supported by
RAGER
RAGER thumbnail
RAGER This album follows me around all day and dances in my dreams while I sleep. Favorite track: Know Me Like You Do.
Matt DeMello (himself)
Matt DeMello (himself) thumbnail
Matt DeMello (himself) One of the most compositionally satisfying and aesthetically daring releases of the year.
Tim Patterson
Tim Patterson thumbnail
Tim Patterson this is the feel good album of the year
this is the album of the feel bad year
nina takes all the sadness and doubt and grief and makes it hopeful and bright and beautiful

[2021 update] a feel-even-worse year, but this is still feeling good; it is, in fact, my favorite. thank you nina Favorite track: Know Me Like You Do.
Rodent
Rodent thumbnail
Rodent Yes, I pre-ordered this without even hearing the sample track because Nina Ryser is number one on my list. So far, the most interesting Composer of her generation. (Next year I'm going on a hunger strike until she releases an opera. Don't tell Mom I said that last bit.) Favorite track: Dancing in the Street.
more...
/
  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $10 USD  or more

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    CD comes in a folded case with original artwork by Nina Ryser !

    Includes unlimited streaming of Paths of Color via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 7 days

      $10 USD or more 

     

1.
Reaching out to the ones I love my arms wide and yearning. Gazing at the empty street I fondly remember learning. Holding a knot in my core seeded from unknowing. Trying to keep it from growing and growing. Holding me so sweetly I forget all my regrets. Holding me so sweetly and I know I shouldn’t fret. Hoping my friends don’t go out so they can be well again. Holding off from the time so I can breathe again.
2.
"I have been meaning to write to you, but I was busy galavanting all over the place. Dancing, stripping, and streaking...now that this is the year of the women" That's what you said to me in your letter I live by it every day. It may not have meant much to you But to me, it's everything. "I have been meaning to write to you, but I was busy galavanting all over the place. Dancing, stripping, and streaking...now that this is the year of the women" I am the tiny bird in your pictures The music is in your paint. I am trying to follow your path of color, as you turn to me and say: "LET THERE BE DANCING IN THE STREET AT ALL TIMES OF NIGHT AND DAY!" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ All the lyrics quoted in “Dancing in the Street” are directly from an email I received from my grandma Helen in March, 2018.
3.
What do you wanna look at me like that for? What do you wanna look at me like that for? I know that look. What do you wanna touch me like that for? What do you wanna touch me like that for? I know that touch. What do you wanna say to me right now? What do you wanna say to me right now? I know those words. I wanna know what you're thinking about. I wanna know what you're thinking about. I know those thoughts. What do you wanna lean on me like that for? What do you wanna lean on me like that for? I can lean on you. What do you feel when I put my arms around you? What do you feel when I put my arms around you? You hold me too. I'm watching you like I've never seen you before. I'm watching you like I've never seen you before. You are brand new. What do you wanna work it out with me for? What do you wanna work it out with me for? I want that too. Why do you wanna know me like you do? Why do you wanna know me like you do? I want to know you.
4.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Both "Premonition 1" and "Premonition 2" are variations of a melody I heard in a dream. In the dream, the melody came to me as a sort of premonition; once I heard this melody I somehow immediately knew that my cat, who was very old and sick at the time, would die the next day. I woke up from the dream crying & with this melody stuck in my head, and sure enough, my beloved Corn passed away that day. My friend Matt Norman, who laid down the horn parts on these tracks, really helped bring this melody to fruition just from hearing groggy voice memos I recorded the morning I woke up from the dream. So, thanks Matt! And here's to all the special kitties out there. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
5.
Sometimes you know when you're wrong, and you know you won't admit it. You hope no one will find out so don't you give yourself away! You think you're a sly fox until they call you on your shit. So, you swallow your ego, and it's just another day. Pride, disappear today Pride, disappear tomorrow Just go back to where you belong You're just a kid and you don't mean anything by it. I know I can't admit my faults to you, or to anyone who wants them. I want to roll around in the mess I made and never clean it. Let me cheer myself on, let me shelf the trophy I deserve. Oh, I never knew this was so hard! Pride, disappear today Pride, disappear tomorrow Just go back to where you belong You're just a kid and you don't mean anything by it.
6.
Grass 02:36
7.
When I can't sleep I hate myself the next day I don't treat you well, I know it But what else can I say? What a way to be I'm watching over me. I hope that you can forgive me, and tell me it's ok. My brain is a force that betrays me an excuse during the day. And come nightfall, I see the spirits mocking me from the street. What a way to be I'm watching over me. I want to find a way to restart my mind I'll climb up into the sky with the grip of a vine And once I'm there, I will close my eyes What a way to be I'm watching over me.
8.
Billy Boy 01:30
Billy Boy, you are the best doggy I have ever known or seen. You are such wonderful company, You really bring out the best in me. How on earth did I get so lucky? When you try to bite my jugular I know it's your way of loving her. I just hope you never bite too hard, or else I will die in your arms. And maybe that wouldn't be so bad, for all I know, our love's the purest I've had. So let me die in your arms tonight and you can have my neck without a fight. Billy Boy
9.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Both "Premonition 1" and "Premonition 2" are variations of a melody I heard in a dream. In the dream, the melody came to me as a sort of premonition; once I heard this melody I somehow immediately knew that my cat, who was very old and sick at the time, would die the next day. I woke up from the dream crying & with this melody stuck in my head, and sure enough, my beloved Corn passed away that day. My friend Matt Norman, who laid down the horn parts on these tracks, really helped bring this melody to fruition just from hearing groggy voice memos I recorded the morning I woke up from the dream. So, thanks Matt! And here's to all the special kitties out there. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
10.
How did you take that pill with dignity? I want you to have control of your body, and yet I still cannot comprehend. I'm sitting here scratching at my damn head wondering how you had the courage to take poison, to resign. It seems so unlike you. But it did not surprise me when you said on the phone that you are your own god, and you even laughed. I did not know that this could be a joke, but that is your art. You've always taken charge. You have always taken charge. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “You’ve Always Taken Charge” is about the conversations my grandma Helen and I had in 2019 surrounding her decision to take aid-in-dying medication, also known as "assisted death" or DDMP2, which is only legal in 9 states with "Death With Dignity" laws -- a decision she arrived at after having endured multiple strokes, among many other health issues, that had drastically impeded her speech and motor skills, and ultimately her ability to continue her prolific life-long art practice. These were difficult conversations to have; it was a difficult concept for me to grapple with. However, there also was beauty and celebration in this decision -- Her desire to end her life in her own hands, on her own terms, was completely consistent with the ethos with which she led her life. Despite the obstacles and odds against her throughout her life, of which there were countless, she never compromised her free spirit and independence; she never compromised her path. She always took charge, each step of the way.
11.
In the driveway, you showed them all You replaced the bumper of your car all by yourself the whole choir sung out their melodies of doubt. They did not take you as the type who sees it through, now they're begging for rides. Building you and building me into the playground from memory. The choice is yours you know I'm on board The choice is yours Today I saw you scooping out the seeds You put the trash in the earth and you ate all the weeds. And when the sunlight began to burn your face, all your little minions cleaned up any trace that you may have left of the mess you made. You know you are revealed but they love you anyway. Building you and building me to see the free playground from memory.
12.

about

Nina Ryser has been making music since she was eight years old. Her first gear was her Fischer-Price toy tape machine, on which she’d record songs written on piano, karaoke songs, and thoughts from “Nina’s Diry.” One of these, “I Just Really Hope You Have a Good Time Listening,” is the final track on Ryser’s new solo album, Paths of Color, out this October on Cowgirl Records.

Paths is Ryser’s sixth solo album — an impressive number, considering she’s also spent the past seven years in the buzzing art-noise-rock trio Palberta (as well as the projects Old Maybe, Shimmer, Data, and Fire Roast). In line with her past few releases, Paths is characteristic Nina Ryser: dreamy, wonky, synth-based art-pop that’s bubbly, edgy, sweet, and dark all at once; with elements of post-punk, art rock, and free jazz. But on Paths, Ryser has honed her home recording and mixing skills and refined her home studio set-up, making it her most polished-sounding work yet. And, along with the mastering skills of Angel Marcloid (Fire-Toolz), it is intentionally clearer-sounding than anything she has yet produced. But she’s maintained that homemade vibe, as well as the freedom of childhood expression that is so crucial to her sound. Her background in contemporary classical music serves to hold it all together in a taut, designful balance.

There’s a balance here, too, of loss and light. Written and recorded at the beginning of the stay-at-home order, during a time of hardship and grief, Paths of Color is, as Ryser puts it, about how "Underneath the loss and hardship of the past and apprehension and doubt of the present, there's love and appreciation.” Underlying each song is a love song about “loved ones I've lost this past year, and loved ones in my life today who I admire and cherish.”

And it is influenced, inextricably, by our new reality. Even “I Just Really Hope You Have a Good Time Listening” is a part of this record because Ryser was re-listening to old tapes during lockdown: “I wanted to bring that back for this album,” she says. “I feel really close to that part of my life. That's always been something that I've done, record songs in my bedroom. It felt really relevant to me in this moment.” And because we can’t have live shows anymore these days, Ryser’s brought part of her live performances into Paths: the second half of “You’ve Always Taken Charge,” which is about her grandmother’s death, is the kind of improvised soundscape transition piece Ryser usually performs onstage between songs.

Remarkably, Ryser does it all herself. “It’s all me in my house,” she says. Even “Shelf the Trophy,” which sounds like it could be part of a Palberta set, was just Ryser (unless you count the input of her roommate, who suggested the addition of the cowbell!). The lyrics for that track were riffed as the song was recorded, just like her homemade album art, which she riffed with her favorite paintbrush markers. “I kind of had a vision,” she says. Born into a family of artists — her brother, Sam Ryser, is the Brooklyn printer Dripper World, her parents are artists, and her grandmother, who so influenced this record, made children’s books and upholsteries — she jokes she “had no way around it.”

Paths of Color may be inspired by loss and grief, but that love shines through in its sonic playfulness. Like on first single “Dancing in the Street,” whose chorus is an email Ryser once received from her grandmother, it is both mourning and celebration. But, as Ryser says, “There's celebration in mourning, too.”

To quote eight-year-old Ryser: “I just really hope that you had a great time listening and I really hope that you listen to it over and over, until you’re tired of it, and you tell me how good it is the next time we see each other. I am very proud of my work, and I hope you are, too. So, seeya later. The end!”

-Leah Mandel, Cowgirl Records

credits

released October 22, 2020

All songs recorded and mixed by Nina Ryser at her home in Philadelphia during the Covid-19 stay-at-home order, March-April, 2020.

Mastered by Angel Hair Audio ( www.angelhairaudio.com ) and Nina Ryser.

Album & insert artwork by Nina Ryser.

Horns in “Premonition 1 & 2” by Matt Norman.
Clarinet in “Billy Boy” and backup vox in "Dancing in the Street" by Gabe Adels.
Drums in “Playground From Memory” by Dan Angel.

For more info on the songs, I encourage you to check out the lyrics section for each song, which you can click on when you hover your mouse to the right of each track :)

cowgirlrecords.com/Nina-Ryser

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Nina Ryser Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

contact / help

Contact Nina Ryser

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like Nina Ryser, you may also like: