At the start of the month, Ryley Walker revealed that he has joined the electronic outfit Gift Horse, stepping in to duel with their kaleidoscopic synth textures. The band’s forthcoming LP, A Career In Architecture, is on the horizon, yet Walker has just issued a new solo piece titled “Carrier,” marking his debut on his new label home, AD 93.
Walker offered the following reflections on the track:
“Carrier” is deliberately spare in its construction. It relies on digital distortion created with PPOOLL/Max/MSP and a down-pitched loop from a guitar idea I once discarded on my phone, something I shelved years ago. Worn-out, but reworked and rebuilt.
I chipped away at it in my downtown Manhattan apartment after finishing late shifts at my service job—post-work jam sessions during a period of acute fatigue.
Even with its harsh edge, it felt like a gentler, more approachable way to make a tune. I pictured people back in my hometown of Rockford, Illinois, perhaps in SpongeBob pajama pants at a funeral-like moment. I imagined them shouting from behind the wheel of a salvage-title Honda Civic with a lift kit.
They inspire me every day.
I thought of Loren Connors, Kevin Drumm, and Caspar Brötzmann. I pictured smokers indoors.
The smoldering track is paired with a video directed by Kendra Calhoun. Watch below.
“Carrier” is out now on AD 93.
