Album Review: RY X - Dawn

When judging a book by its proverbial cover, it's tempting to place Australian expat RY X into the electronic section of the artfully-bearded-yet-slightly-mysterious-singer-songwriter camp alongside Angus Stone (folk) and Matt Corby (blues). But let's not do that.

RY X has delivered a much-awaited debut album following on from his 2013 Berlin EP, which featured the YouTube hit of the same name. Dawn features that song and stays true to what made Berlin so alluring — it is meditative, spacious, and rather melancholy. Dawn is a lovely, plaintive opener. Salt has an emotive repetition that blossoms into more. Howling had a previous life on the RY X / Frank Wiedemann joint project of the same name. Evocative lyrics are more clearly enunciated on Howling, compared to the mumbling of much of the other songs: "Golden siren/under exposing/come lay your weakness down/on the floor in the backseat." Only could be a distant cousin of any track on Bon Iver's For Emma, Forever Ago. The songs really excel when RY X arranges acoustic guitar, subtle electronics, keyboards, and even strings to create something very organic.

And yet, there isn't anything overdone on this album. It is when it becomes so sparse it gets sleepy that the listener might literally drift off. Beacon nearly does that but stick with it as it becomes awash in noise that fans of Sigur Ros and Dirty Three will appreciate. RY X songs are intriguing, especially when he decides to fill all that space with a just a bit more clutter.