Paul Ryan, Olivia Thomson – Eyes of an Enemy (Album Review)

On today’s reiteration of what’s new on Music Review World, we bring back to you artists that have been featured before: the indie powerhouse Paul Ryan and the glorious Olivia Thomson. If you want context to their artistry, please read this article.

With the success of their previous collaboration, they have decided to release a new album titled ‘Eyes of an Enemy’. It is stated to be a folk project that doesn’t limit itself to the title of being a musical project. In fact, it’s also a visual project. The album artwork and promotional photoshoots, including intimate portraits of the artists, intend to complement the album’s introspective concept. The project also aims to connect with those who value authenticity, musical poetry, as well as a timeless aesthetic.

With other tracks such as The Divine Sky, Multitudes, Danielle, Finger On Destruction, and Lost at War, Paul Ryan continues to expand his audience and seeks to establish himself as a leading voice in the British alternative scene.

The album starts off strong with its sonic identity, through the introductory track ‘Eyes of an Enemy I.’ It is a folksy instrumental that has tones of shimmer through the striking sounds of the strings, with the calmness and robustness of the persistent melodic lines in the background. It then goes on to the tracks featuring Olivia Thomson, all done with intent and clear direction. Paul’s vocals are a bit strong in terms of the way that it is mastered, and Olivia’s vocals serve in a way to complement his vocals. In terms of vocal delivery it is reminiscent of 80s vocalists, in the sense of a faux-monotonous delivery mixed with a determined calmness to the vocals. The instrumentation and the composition of the tracks afterwards are all very predictable, in the sense that there is an expected ensemble produced through the interaction of acoustic guitars.

In some aspects, I presume to give more variation in the album, tracks like ‘Longed for Life’ give off a semi-Siouxsie and the Banshees feel, with a bit of shoegaze and psychedelic rock mixed into it. In fact, it’s the exact track we covered on this platform. Compared to the previous track, this track has a lot more dynamics and is mastered more harmoniously, with a bit more motivic variation. The album then transitions to ‘Worth the Know’, a spunkier and more edgier track with more dynamics and subversion to it. Afterwards, ‘Sofia Stands so Near’ reels us back in to the initial motif of the album- stripped down, acoustic folk that’s to the point in its conception and execution with an eerie calmness to it. ‘Heart Sunk Without You’ tries to add a bit more depth to that recurring theme, and I think it does so successfully, with more depth in its instrumentation. My only issue is besides the other single, the vocals all seem to be very roughly mixed to a degree. Something isn’t necessarily flowing very well when it comes to both vocals and how they can be put on an ‘equal’ plane of perception.

I’d say the rest of the album offers pretty much the same standard fare that was shown within the first half of the album. Unfortunately, unlike the success of the first single off of this release, seeing this body of work as an entire album did not necessarily surpass or meet the standards of that one song. It seemed like a lot of resources and planning was put into that song, and I’m not saying that the other songs are low effort at all- in fact, they all seemed like it took a lot of effort just to execute, but it just didn’t fit the same standard. Moreover, the monotony of the content and the composition of the songs start to really dig in once you have to hear them recurrently. I’m sure that a cult following who prefers this type of music solely would definitely adore this album, but from a general standpoint, it does get boring after a while. The two vocalists have decent voices but not enough range or unique techniques to keep the audience listening for an entire album at this point.

I don’t think I’d suggest the artists to modify anything about their body of work though, as even though that is my honest perception through listening to this album, I think asking them to be a bit more experimental or eclectic would take away from the purity of the genre and the style within this album. Not everything is meant to be viral or resonate with everyone, and that’s fine- that’s the beauty of acknowledging the subjectivity within art.

Score/Good: Eyes of an Enemy presents itself very authentically within a stripped-down and folksy soundscape. There is a lot of love and comfort within the instrumentation of these tracks, but they do not necessarily stick out as a full album or maintain the ‘high’ achieved by the single ‘Longed for Life’. I do think this has the potential to be a cult classic or appreciated within people who do enjoy this genre for what it is, though.

[We rank singles, EPs, and albums on a scale of Poor, Mediocre, Good, Excellent, and Outstanding]

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