Dear Friends,
It brings me so much joy to share a new song with you today (+ a rare vinyl drop today!!) ...
"Bright Sadness" is out now and it means so much to share it with you! It belongs to my "Mother" collection of songs. (Learn more about "Mother" here)
In my mom's very last days, she requested that she be cremated and that her ashes be spread in the ocean near Hawaii, her very favorite place. This past March, at the one year anniversary of her passing, my family and I made it to Hawaii to honor her wishes. "Bright Sadness" is about that experience, which was both heartbreaking and healing all at once. The first thing you hear in this song is my Mom's voice, as she was filming a family video of the very same spot of the ocean where we held her ceremony. She describes the beauty of the landscape perfectly: "this has got to be the closest thing to Heaven."
Massive thanks to Sharon Gerber and Anya-Katarina Gerber for their absolutely stunning strings, to Chris Bethea for mastering and to Joey Chou for the gorgeous and perfect cover art! I am so lucky to get to make things with these wonderful people.
The "Bright Sadness" episode of The Sleeping At Last Podcast is coming this Monday! Can't wait to share the stories behind this bittersweet song.
You might’ve noticed the Sleeping At Last store has been in “maintenance mode," but for good reason! We have been hard at work behind the scenes to improve the experience for you. The updated store will officially relaunch very soon (with a few new items and some long-awaited restock too) but before then, I wanted to kick things off with some super special, limited edition vinyls (less than 100 of each were made), which were lovingly hand-spun by the fine folks at Gotta Groove Records. Thanks for your patience while we make the store better!
The next and final song in my "Mother" collection is a new version of my song "Mother" and it will release Mother's Day weekend. Thanks for listening!! I am so grateful for you.
Huge Love, Ryan
1. Nacho Fries at Taco Bell ('tis the season)
2. Teenage Engineering CM-15 (no secret i love everything they make. cannot wait for this mic!)
3. Succession: Season 4, Episode 3 (one of the best episodes of television ever.)
4. Cuckoo (love this dude's channel and whole vibe.)