Regular readers of BlackPlastic will likely know that I suffer from anxiety. One of the things I haven’t discussed much is how this impacts my sleep. The moment when everyone else goes to sleep can be a trigger for me — I am never as alone as during those hours when everyone else is asleep.
At the end of a long day, bedtime is where our brains start to unspool and process what has happened. Unfortunately if you suffer from anxiety, it is also the point at which your brain can get tied up in what certain things mean. Why did that person say something in a particular way? Is it significant that someone didn’t respond to a message? Why did I do that stupid thing? In the light of day, the edge on those questions has a tendency to dissolve but, at night, they can swallow my whole brain. Unanswerable, unresolvable and yet seemingly impossible to ignore. In those moments, the night seems to expand to infinity and the potential for loneliness can seem endless.
RYD is the creative alias of 25-year-old producer and songwriter Ryan Downie, and Sleep comes as the title track of a new EP, out now. Sleep is RYD’s first release since his 2019 eponymously named debut album.
The song Sleep feels like an exploration of those moments when you are trapped between sleep and being awake, caught up in the snatched memory of someone. The song’s central repeated refrain, “Now I’m losing sleep over what you said to me”, encapsulates perfectly an experience I know all too well. The layered vocals create an experience not too dissimilar to that of drifting in and out of consciousness, unable to shut my brain down but also unable to control it — snippets weave in and out to create cyclical, endless thoughts. And yet RYD’s production work gives the whole thing a quasi-peaceful feeling: you are safe, in your bed, and it will be okay. It’s a sensation only further cemented through the contribution of the lovely OK Button, who appeared on these pages back in 2018.
Having been the product of more than a year’s effort, the release of the Sleep EP comes together with an accompanying app, Sleep Room. The app aims to bring together the world of music, art and mindfulness, providing users with the opportunity to experiment with the loops that make up the songs on the new EP.
The inspiration from the app came out of the experience of lockdown last year, as Downie explains:
“A bedroom is a place where you generally feel safe and have no outside judgement looming, a paradise for introverts. Each item in the room triggers a different stem from the (Now I’m Losing) track, an intro to Sleep on the forthcoming EP. The initial tracks are a significant build-up of emotions, the introduction of different sounds and vocals coming as new thoughts that meld into one. All items in the room trigger different connotations and sentiments, of thoughts playing together in harmony like a stream of consciousness we can effortlessly converse with ourselves, moving from one unrelated thing to another whilst all seeming so natural.”
I love the level of thought that has gone into this release, but I also appreciate how well it landed for me emotionally. Check out the song Sleep below, the app here and look for the EP itself here.