What took Ryan Monahan years to create needs just 19 seconds to leave a lasting impression.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s at that point on Moving Targets, the opening track on Stop Saying I, when Monahan begins to sing. Deep but lilting, his voice is a constant surprise as it wends through the musical tapestry. It is impossible to ignore.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like I\u2019ve been under the radar to a certain extent,\u201d Monahan said, sipping a cup of Dal soup on a cloudy Wednesday afternoon. \u201cI wanted to focus on making the best album I could and see what happens from there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Consider the radar squarely on your sights now, Mr. Monahan.<\/p>\n
Three years after moving to Athens and two years after starting to write the songs that would make up his new album, Monahan is in one fine position. Stop Saying I is an eight-song wonder, a mix of folk and pop and rock, churned with chirping guitars and hallowed trumpets to accompany that elegant voice. With his record release party slated for Little Kings on Feb. 18, Monahan is on the cusp of an exciting new chapter, one forged by patience and perseverance.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like the album has exceeded my expectations of what I was trying to do,\u201d Monahan said. \u201cA lot of it had to do with Eric (Friar). He really helped bring out a lot of ideas I was trying to express. He was a really good co-pilot.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was with Friar, the owner of the Downtown Athens Recording Company, with whom Monahan collaborated for the bulk of Stop Saying I. But it was not without its roadblocks. Partially recording the album at David Barbe\u2019s Chase Park Transduction studio, Monahan took his work to DARC to finish the remainder. But DARC was over before Stop Saying I was.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe biggest stumbling block was DARC closing, there was about a six-month period where I couldn\u2019t record anything at all,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was frustrating as hell because I was 90 percent finished with the album. I was their last client and actually helped them tear it down and helped Eric rebuild the studio in his house. He was so cool about it, he was determined to make the album happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
But adversity is nothing new for Monahan. After his parents split up when he was a boy, he shuttled back and forth from Georgia and New England, going to three different high schools before settling in New Haven, Conn. in his late teens. He sharpened his musical prowess as a member of two bands \u2013 Eschellon and Shadowgraphs \u2013 which were slowly finding an audience in the big city.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were doing the whole Boston-New York thing because New Haven is sandwiched right in between,\u201d Monahan said. \u201cWe had a good run with that, we had a bunch of radio play and label attention. But those projects fell apart.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the high schools Monahan attended for a year was Milton High in Alpharatta, and it there he met Josh McMichael. For years McMichael, who would go on to attend the University of Georgia, told Monahan about how great Athens was, imploring him to come down and check out the music scene. It was only after some time in Brooklyn, with not much money and little time to write music, that Monahan made a big leap in little time.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was living in Brooklyn, but it seemed like the universe was conspiring against me being there because everything that could go wrong went wrong in every sense of the word,\u201d he said. \u201cI just had to go into relocation therapy, so I packed up my car and I just drove down here. I pretty much made the decision overnight. I woke up one morning saying \u2018I don\u2019t want to live in New York.\u2019 I didn\u2019t know anything about Athens, I didn\u2019t know anybody besides Josh, I just moved down here. It was just an instinct.\u201d<\/p>\n
Living in a barren apartment with a sleeping bag, some books and a guitar, Monahan made his way as he could \u2013 which included writing for Flagpole Magazine to make ends meet. But music was never too far, and with McMichael, Danny Kirschner and Lemuel Hayes, he would form the Beatles cover band Beatles For Sale. Playing early Beatles songs such as Love Me Do and I Want to Hold Your Hand, Beatles For Sale found a small niche.<\/p>\n
It also caught the attention of one well-known Athenian.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe music stuff started picking up and I dedicated more time to it,\u201d Monahan said. \u201cI did the Beatles for Sale thing for a little while, and that\u2019s how we met Cindy Wilson.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wilson, an original member of legendary B52s, was impressed enough with Monahan to ask him to join her new band Ola Moon. An all-star band which features musicians from Athens past and present, Ola Moon works in diverse covers and debuted its festive lineup during a Melting Point show commemorating the 30 anniversary of R.E.M.\u2019s first show. During that set, Monahan took to the mic to sing a cover of Stand off of R.E.M.\u2019s 1988 album Green. \u201cI first heard this song when I was 4,\u201d he said to the packed crowd before kicking into the song.<\/p>\n
It was a perfect mix of young and old(er).<\/p>\n
Which best describes the work Monahan has now sent to the world. With Stop Saying I, he has created a mature piece of music which remains wide-eyed and fresh, an indelible starting point with a promise for the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted the album to be longer, I have way more tracks than what I put on there, but there was definite urgency to get something out there,\u201d he said. \u201dEverything that has happened so far since living in Athens is beyond my expectations. I could have never dreamt I\u2019d being sharing the stage with Cindy Wilson. There\u2019s nothing now really holding me back.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
What took Ryan Monahan years to create needs just 19 seconds to leave a lasting impression. It\u2019s at that point on Moving Targets, the opening track on Stop Saying I, when Monahan begins to sing. Deep but lilting, his voice is a constant surprise as it wends through the musical tapestry. It is impossible to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1426,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[437],"class_list":["post-1425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature","tag-ryan-monahan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1425"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1425\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1427,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1425\/revisions\/1427"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}