Music

Serena Ryder’s powerhouse vocals drive intimate songs of finding hope amid the darkness

Recorded in a mere 10 days, Serena Ryder’s The Art of Falling Apart is an impassioned cross-pollination between R & B, roots and rock. Its 10 tracks are a triumphant exploration in how to put oneself back together after—you guessed it—falling apart.

Ryder is bouncing back better than ever on her eighth studio album. The message of the record is reminiscent of a Japanese art called kintsugi, the practice of mending smashed pottery by filling its cracks with gold. Ryder has spoken publicly about her struggles with mental health over the years. She bravely lays her broken parts bare in her newest release, and it is unmistakeably a celebration of the gold she’s mended them with.

Leading the track list is Candy, its rhythmic bass and clapping drums buoying a repetitive taunt to unwrap her—she’s candy, she’s sweet. At first it sounds like a schoolyard chant, but a closer listen reveals the song is an exercise in opening up and revealing the soft centre beneath the hard veneer. It sets the tone for the rest of the strikingly raw record.

Backing tracks throughout the album feature soulful choirs and funky, at-times synthesized keys, giving it the feel-good, all-in-this-together air of an old-school church Sunday. Ryder’s signature rich, deep vocals imbue Waterfall with a cleansing power as she gives in to the tears. Kid Gloves then bursts through as a jazzy ray of sunshine after the rain; it’s a track that could have easily slid in to that famous 500 Days of Summer scene when Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s character does the “just got laid” happy dance. Finally hitting the high notes, Ryder is announcing the newfound swagger in her step.