A Bad Wind Blows in My Heart
A former guitarist for The Coral, Bill Ryder-Jones falls in line with traditional singer/songwriters for his second solo album, 2013\'s *A Bad Wind Blows in My Heart*. Where his first EP (*A Leave Taking Soundtrack*) and his solo-album debut (*If…*) hinted at a career scoring films, *Bad Wind* proves he\'s mastered the solo route with a song cycle regarding his young life in England. He even recorded the album in his old bedroom at his mother\'s house in Liverpool, and two members of the local band By the Sea play along here. Ryder-Jones isn\'t a flashy vocalist by any means; he\'s a utilitarian who gets the job done. These are often the best singers, and his style lends this personal material an intimacy that\'s fully in line with the album\'s concept. *A Bad Wind* is a well-crafted album, but it\'s so subtle that one might barely notice the care in the instrumentation surrounding \"Anthony & Owen\" or the full-band workout \"You\'re Getting Like Your Sister,\" where he tells a girl he loves her and then falls for her sister.
The ex-Coral guitarist follows a heavily orchestral debut solo album with this lower stakes collection of autobiographical anecdotes, recorded in his boyhood bedroom and produced by Simian Mobile Disco's James Ford.
After debuting in 2011 with the evocative If..., a largely orchestral, all-instrumental set inspired by author Italo Calvino's 1979 post-modernist novel If on a Winter's Night a Traveler, former Coral guitarist Bill Ryder-Jones seemed poised to go the film score route, which he had shown interest in shortly after leaving his flagship band.