Whoever Allan Rayman is, he’s made a hell of a body of work so far. The Wyoming-born, Toronto-based artist has delivered one head-scratching, hypnotic and heavenly project after another, including Hotel Allan [2016], Courtney EP [2017], Roadhouse 01 [2017], Harry Hard-On [2018], and Christian [2020]. Along the way, he generated over 250 million streams, sold-out tours in Europe, The United States, and Canada, and shined at festivals, including Reading & Leads, Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, Ohana, Austin City Limits, and Osheaga. Amid this whirlwind, he gained a newfound clarity and applied it to finishing Roadhouse 02 during the Global Pandemic.
Every side of Rayman shines on ROADHOUSE 02. Thematically inspired by Kurt Vonnegut’s classic Slaughterhouse-Five, Rayman sonically nods back to the nocturnal R&B of his early work. The 13-track album focuses on the musician’s career to date; being signed and dropped, to the feeling of not being “the right guy for the job” and the struggle of finding positivity in all this negative space. Touching on maturity and the revelations that come with it, Rayman becomes unstuck in time and is shown his life and what’s to come of it if he continues to let Mr. Roadhouse have full control. It ultimately leads to depression and unfortunately death. Roadhouse 02 is Rayman being shown his options and having to decide on where he wants his life to go.
The first single to be released off of the album is “Rider.” With the artist now being able to view life in its entirety from beginning to end, he sees how he can avoid going down a different road, so death doesn’t come for him. It allows him to become unstuck in time and move around the moments of his life as if he were visiting a zoo. “Rider” glows with raw, gravelly vocals and chronicles of spoken word which wash over the punchy drums and echoing minimalist backdrop.
Rayman shares, “Together the songs and video tell a story of an artist who creates an alter ego to handle success in the music industry and what happens when you lose yourself in that character. Ultimately the album is by an artist for an artist. It shines a light on the negatives that come with this career choice. With an underlying theme that our shortcomings as artists are our strength; makes for good music – real music.” Slated for release March 18th, ROADHOUSE 02 marks a new chapter for Allan Rayman.
Image provided by LPR
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