Sam Ryder, There’s Nothing But Space, Man! (Parlophone)
Eurovision fans will already be aware of Sam Ryder as a mighty singer and enthusiastic performer, following his epic turn and runner-up finish at this year’s ceremony in Turin. After years at the jobbing musician coalface, fronting bands and working as a wedding singer, his debut solo album confirms that he is a pop Tigger with boundless energy and positivity.
Its thirteen songs are culled from a vast pile of one hundred potentials, yet none of the newer tracks can quite match the soaring pop anthem ‘Space Man’, from which the album title is drawn. With Elton John and Queen as inspirations for its 70s-influenced pomp pop, it’s not surprising that Ryder opens proceedings with a Freddie Mercury falsetto, although ‘Deep Blue Doubt’ quickly belies its title and intro to emerge as an upbeat pop/rock exercise in overcoming adversity.
Ryder has co-written every track here, including a number with Ed Sheeran collaborator Amy Wadge and credits for Westlife hitmaker Wayne Hector and Sam Smith scribe Jimmy Napes. Commercial stops have been pulled out, somewhat at the expense of Ryder’s musical personality.
‘OK’ is a song that lives down to its middling title but features a vocal performance that is not prepared to settle for anything less than full throttle. Ryder does get to properly exercise his rock chops on Tiny Riot, a tougher brand of storming pop song, while skyscraping ballad ‘All The Way Over’ is drenched in maximalist strings.
There are other excuses for Ryder to swish his luxurious locks – some Brian May-style riffola on the catchy Ten Tons, the 80s AOR influence in the guitar line of pumping dance pop track ‘Put A Light On Me’ and the retro pop stomp ‘This Time’. But it is also clear from his Sigala/David Guetta collaboration ‘Living Without You’, included here as a bonus track, that he will defer to formulaic fun in order to keep the Eurovision party going.
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