Album Review: Ryan Scully - What Should I Wear

Ryan Scully 

What Should I Wear

**** out of *****

The New Orleans based Ryan Scully has fronted a host of bands, including Morning Forty Federation, The Rough Seven, Ten Gallon Tinfoil Hat, and Leopard Hound Blues Band while also finding time to record as a solo artist. His newest solo effort, What Should I Wear, is a hodgepodge collection of songs that run the gamut of his musical styles, having been recorded haphazardly over the last four years, which saw him work through major life changes. 

His previous solo album New Confusion, dealt with the warped reality of Covid lockdowns and beyond (making our best of list of 2020). Now dealing with middle age, divorce, and a world on fire, Scully navigates the trials and tribulations of life, but can't help to joke about the tough times as well. Working with Teddy Lamson, Lilly Fein, James Course, Alex Pianovich, Justin Lecuyer, and Corey McGillivary over various sessions, this collection came to life.  

The opening, brief, easy country strolling "Not A Memory" tries to bury the past and hardships (perhaps in unhealthy fashion) around weeping electric guitars while the short swirling duet "She Don't Love Me" deals with breakups, beatdowns and regret.        

The title track is the best one presented here. A ballad of desperation, fear, hope, moving on from relationships, and the finality of death, all supported with sweet backing vocals as piano, guitar and shaker slowly move the tale along. Scully's raw vocals are always a highlight and on this number really deliver the evocative emotions needed. The lighter "Valentines Wednesday" is also a winner that feels lived in, as the marching beat allows the well wishes to float with ease.   

The party funk (with dire consequences) of "Fentanyl Funk" could fit in a present-day Morning Forty set, while the flip side "Fentanyl Folk" moves more towards the countryside of things. "Grenade" is unexplored terrain for Scully as he dives into New Wave with a pulsing beat, piano fills, hand claps and drifting synths that color his tale of loss/transition with a neon sheen.     

One of Scully's more noticeable influences pops up on a few tunes, as the funky/silly "Nuthin U Say", fake English accented "Amazon Man", and the oddball electro hip-hop finale "Belly Button Birthday" all are slightly off kilter in a Ween way. The New Hope duo can also be heard in "What Do You Talk About" which also contains hints of Sonic Youth's "Little Trouble Girl" as these more lighthearted tunes counterbalance the pain and loss.  

While What Should I Wear doesn't have a direct connective theme, Ryan Scully's heart-on-his-sleeve honesty, humor, heartache and lived in experiences brings the album into the light. A powerful voice on everyday struggles and successes, Scully's odds and ends collection conveys more emotion than most artists concept albums.   

_______

Support the artist, buy the album, peep the album below: