Ryan O’Neal, the man behind Sleeping At Last, is one of the most productive musicians around and one of the most dedicated artist supporters Invisible Children works with.
In 2011, Ryan released an EP every month in a project entitled Yearbook. His current effort – Atlas – is an even more ambitious feat. He has promised to release six EPs in 2013, each with a different theme. There is no end-date in mind for Atlas. That’s clear commitment.
This week marks the beginning of the Atlas project with the first EP – Darkness.
We got in touch with Mr. O’Neil during a break from attending Sundance and soundtracking a viral video to ask him about Atlas, throw some deserving love his way, and get his thoughts on music for social change.
The first EP Darkness is an insane collection of beautifully orchestrated songs. 1) Kudos. 2) What was the process in making such richly ornamented tracks?
Wow, thank you so much! Means a lot to hear that! Yeah, from the beginning, I imagined this first EP to be musically dense in layers. A lot of my recent music has featured a slightly more bare-bones structure, so with the theme being “darkness,” it just felt right to make the music as layered and infinite as possible. I definitely maxed out my track count while working on these songs. But just like all my songs, it starts with the bones. Thematically on Darkness I wanted to make sure that I tackled as many different definitions and interpretations of darkness as possible…loss, blindness, beginnings, sorrow, etc. So the bones of these songs contained a lot of narrative based around those ideas of darkness. After all of that took shape, I had so much fun layering sounds and instruments like crazy… trying to find the right collection of sounds for each theme.
The way you go about music release and distribution is revolutionary and unrivaled. How did the release strategy for the Atlas project develop?
Thank you! Well, my previous EP series, Yearbook, definitely laid out the path for Atlas. Though it’s a lot more work to create so consistently in these series, I love so many aspects of this model of releasing music. I learned that, as an independent musician, having something new to show people more often is so vital to building a strong relationship between my music and the kind folks that listen to it. The subscription element of these project’s have been amazing for that – there’s always something new to talk about. Also, creatively, it’s so inspiring to constantly be in the head space of writing music. It’s like a muscle…I have found that the consistency is very healthy. Hearing feedback throughout the project from listeners is really wonderful too…rather than disappearing for six months and releasing a record… it makes the music feel more like a living thing – something that can evolve. Not to mention the deadlines push and challenge me in really healthy ways.
The aim of Atlas was to take the very best elements of Yearbook (a lot of new music, releasing often with a subscription option) while taking the model and concept a little further. Rather than a one year project (Yearbook), Atlas is an ongoing series. No end date in mind. Scheduled out one year at a time. Example – 2013 will feature about 28+ songs spanning over six EPs. Thematically, I’ve got about three years planned. This year-by-year schedule is very helpful in being able to be flexible with scheduling so that I can also work on other projects as well, on things like film scoring, touring, etc., while still releasing a lot of brand new Sleeping At Last music. All around, I couldn’t be more excited about this way of doing things!
Your songs have been featured in numerous television shows and films. What is your all-time favorite sync? My choice has to go to either “Tiny Dancer” in Almost Famous or “Dancing On My Own” by Robyn in Girls.
Wow! Good question… There’s a sync in an episode of Breaking Bad that I really loved – “Truth” by Alexander. That’s a more recent fave, but as far as an all-time favorite, I’d have to say “God Only Knows” by The Beach Boys in the film Love, Actually. I also love Nico’s “These Days” from The Royal Tenenbaums.
You have been involved with Invisible Children for ages now, and we cannot appreciate it enough. What involvement do you think music plays in social change?
Absolutely my pleasure – I have resonated with the incredible work you guys are doing from the moment I first saw the original IC film. As much as I’d love to claim credit for the good that my music has been privileged to be in the backdrop of, it’s simply a matter of amazing people like you guys being kind enough to let my music play a part! It’s one of my very favorite things about music – once it releases into the world, somehow it finds its way into some incredible places. I can’t be grateful enough for such an honor!
As far as what involvement I believe music plays in social change, I think it’s a matter of building a reputation of honesty with your audience. We live in a culture where social change opportunities are everywhere, which in a lot of ways is a great thing, and although simple retweets and casual endorsements of organizations serves some purpose, ultimately I believe that musicians who are thoughtful about the changes they wish to see happen in the world, can come up with more powerful ways of inspiring action. A similar idea applies to music itself as well…I believe that honest music moves people in massive ways. In that way too, I think music serves as an emotional foundation for the many incredible stories of need being told. The hope is that music can help tell those stories and make them resonate deeply.
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Darkness on iTunes [HERE]
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