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 Released: March 12, 2012 Format: Digital download, airplay Recorded: 2011, 2012 Genre: Rock, blues, country rock, southern rock Length: 3:57 Label: Studio60 Records Writer: Ryan Ross Hernandez Producer: Ryan Ross Hernandez, Chad McIntosh Song Description
Aside from a few minuscule interviews where the singer-songwriter-musician describes new album A Break in the Clouds as an “album of cowboy songs written under the stars”, the general public has only gotten snippets of information in piecemeal. Finally fans can bask in what wondrous visual impact we've been graced with in Ryan Ross Hernandez's Southern-inspired new photo shoots for the album. Both are just as organic as Hernandez himself spelled them out to be. Fans can consider it safe to say that this era of his career is shaping up to be just as supple as the last.
The first ten seconds of Ryan Ross Hernandez's new single “Fighting Shadows” reaffirms this idea. A bluesy guitar riff with a pedal steel guitar sound breaks into a relaxed mid-tempo track mixes acoustic guitar with soft vocals before splicing into a humbling set of words. It's a charming, dense and solemn piece of music that meddles within a hushed boundary of a melody. The tune is not loud, but Hernandez's music has never been loud. He has always been bluesy, contemporary and but his tempos have never sped up too fast or been screamed into a microphone. No, this guy is delicate with his music and it stands for his character as well as his dedication to his work.
Here, “Fighting Shadows” expresses appreciation for the body of music that preceded him, tributing tones of Americana, folk and classic country at points along the road. If you'd like to pinpoint it, music in the 1970s. He also reminds us that his days of debauchery are in the past, explaining: “my running days are over now, I'm tired and want to catch some sleep,” at the end of the song where Hernandez provides harmonization for himself.
He even keeps it interesting near the end when the electric guitar solo, that nods to “All Things Must Pass”-era George Harrison, gets a spotlight atop acoustic guitar and key schemes. And despite the song's dense and fully-loaded arrangement throughout, there's a lightness of tone and a sonic spaciousness that lets the keyboards and pedal steel add rich texture to the mix. In the bridge of the song, his guitar solo works in a bit of a twist on the melody that solidifies the more interesting aspect of the song.
Songwriting Commentary
“Fighting Shadows is a song that I needed to write. I think that for the last two years I've wanted to write this song but just never could. And I don't why that is because traces of this song have roamed around my head for at least nine, ten months before I really could lay it all down on paper. I don't think with any song I've ever let out to the public, I've been really open about it's meaning behind it, because I feel if I am it kind of defeats the purpose of what songwriting and listening to music is all about. But think about this, if the media was the way it is now, in 1965, then everybody would go, like if Bob Dylan broke up with Joan Baez or something, it'd be like ‘Dylan-Baez split!’ And then all of a sudden “It Ain’t Me Babe” would be a big sensational media thing, but it's not. Because number one, it's a song, and if it's a well written song people will be too busy thinking about their own damn life, if you do it right. If you don't do it right, it'll be like ‘Who's that about?’ I won't name any names but some people aren't very good at it. Because if you're honest about something you go ‘This is my fault too.’ So in this song, when I go ‘I ain't aiming to be a bad man and never did I think my quest to be clever would end, but that don't mean I should have hurt all the people that I have’. That's honesty, that's true honesty. Spilling things that anybody can just sort through, I don't choose to—I don't think I've done it, I've certainly accidentally done that outside of songs, but that's another reason that I took all of that other stuff out, and I believe Fighting Shadows shows that. This song is a turning point, I believe, in my life as a human being and a musician. About hitting control-alt-delete, which we all need to do sometimes. So we don't die.”
Lyrics
I've learned how to be wrong
And make believe I'm right
Men like me are judged by their past mistakes
Until we're dead
Whenever you lie awake in bed alone
It reminds you of the many nights prior
I know the pieces of me are scattered on the hotel floor
I have learned from disaster
I'm a man of only 34
Who's learned on his own
That it's better to fight shadows than wallow in them
I've seen my share of shadows
And no one of them could get me
Believe me they tried
Gone head to head with them
You can take the rest of 'em, yeah
If you stare the first one down
I ain't aiming to be a bad man
And never did I think my quest to be clever would end
But that don't mean I should have hurt
All the people that I have
Honesty isn't exposing things
And being cute only gets you so far
What you call 'love' was invented by guys like me
To make you believe that there's something more than sex
I have learned that true rest comes when you die
I'm a man of only 34
Who's learned on his own
That it's better to fight shadows than wallow in them
I've seen my share of shadows
And no one of them could get me
Believe me they tried
Gone head to head with them
You can take the rest of 'em, yeah
If you stare the first one down
I'm a man of only 34
Who's learned on his own
That it's better to fight shadows than wallow in them
I've seen my share of shadows
And no one of them could get me
Believe me they tried
Gone head to head with them
You can take the rest of 'em, yeah
If you stare the first one down
My running days are over now, I'm tired and want to catch some sleep
My running days are over now, I'm tired and want to catch some sleep
My running days are over now, I'm tired and want to catch some sleep
My running days are over now, I'm tired and want to catch some sleep
Rolling Stone Song Review
4.5/5 Stars
Contrition sounds good on Ryan Ross Hernandez. “Fighting Shadows,” is the first single from his upcoming fifth studio album A Break in the Clouds. He is in an apologetic mood and looking hopefully to the future. It is all set to a laidback southern rock arrangement complete with a pleasingly laconic guitar solo.
As he sings, “I ain't aiming to be a bad man, and never did I think my quest to be clever would end...” and judging from the tabloid stories that have swirled around Ryan Ross Hernandez and past TMI interviews he has given (particularly when he covered Rolling Stone on February 2010 and received massive amounts of backlash by some of the comments he made), it sounds like a good idea that he has finally come to terms to end his days of playing the media game. Time will tell whether the song really marks a new era in life for Ryan Ross Hernandez, but, regardless of the what future holds, this is a compelling song. Top notch production work and keyboards gives "Fighting Shadows” a classic, elegant feel.
“Fighting Shadows” is classic singer-songwriter work. It is confessional in tone while hopefully containing nuggets of universal truth that will connect with its audience. To his credit, Ryan Ross Hernandez doesn't ask forgiveness. He simply states that he is a good man and confident past mistakes will not be repeated since, “My running days are over now.” In a pop music atmosphere in which multi-format appeal is the order of the day, Ryan Ross Hernandez effectively straddles the worlds of rock and adult pop with this song. Fans of classic southern rock or California rock like the early Eagles can welcome “Fighting Shadows” like an old friend.
Despite all of the personal travails, Ryan Ross Hernandez has been a remarkably consistent and commercially successful recording artist. His four studio albums are all certified platinum and two reached #1 on the album chart. Ryan Ross Hernandez has 11 top 10 adult pop hits, and three of his singles are certified platinum. “Fighting Shadows” should continue his success. It is a solid piece of songwriting, and the musicianship is impeccable. The full-length A Break in the Clouds album is due May 29, 2012.Edited by user 13 March 2012 04:45:14(UTC)
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