organizing an accident is a newsletter where I leak home demos of unreleased songs, first draft lyrics, thoughts on the creative process, & dispatches from music life in Paris.
Three years ago, I released my debut album, Soft Power.
Today, I’m celebrating its anniversary by sharing various audio and visual representations of the work—a nine-track album produced between Philadelphia, New Jersey, and Brooklyn over the course of three weeks. While a few songs were written during my final days living in New York, the majority of it came together in the spring of 2020, locked down in Paris against a menacing virus.
The following winter, I flew home and crashed with Kevin Basko in a spare bedroom at his place in Philly, where we met for the first time before diving into the project together. It proved to be a fruitful and inspiring leap of faith, which I’m proud of to this day.
Since its release, I’ve also shared a full album of my home demos for each song, plus instrumental versions for the real nerds. You can listen to everything below:
Soft Power : Listen/Purchase
Soft Power (Demos) : Listen/Purchase
Soft Power (Instrumentals) : Soundcloud
Here is a short documentary I made throughout the recording process :
For the three singles of the album, the official music videos were all directed by my friend, Hugo Cohen Sprung.
Single #1 // Weeknights
Single #2 // Alone For the Last Time
Single #3 // Soft Power
Following the release of the album, the New York band got back together with some additional players to properly celebrate it with a sold out show at Union Pool.
Watch the full concert here
Here are four live sessions also done with Hugo on a beautiful summer day at Thomas Lavernhe’s place in Paris.
Weeknights // Garden Sessions
Alone For the Last Time // Garden Sessions
Soft Power // Garden Sessions
We Do It On Purpose // Live & Stripped
What I’ve been listening to
What I’ve been reading
Bret Easton Ellis - American Psycho
Check out my previous demos and writing via the Substack archive + discover my official music releases on Spotify, Apple, or your platform of choice. Find me on all socials at @thisryanegan.
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