With thunderous techno sounds fit for a cyberpunk landscape and the whimsical feelings of a trip through the looking glass with Alice, Brooklyn-based indie rocker Danny Ritz makes a splash. The new release “a thousand times again” really takes Ritz’s trademark of “big songs about little things” and runs with it. Keeping his raw, genuine vocal delivery and blending it with an industrial production, Ritz paints a portrait of his devotion. Much like in his other songs, like “killing the optimist” and “house in the space,” Ritz has a recognizable cocktail of both conventional and unconventional sounds on full display. The best description of this blend would be part 80s synth pop meets new wave if Harry Styles and Dirty Projectors presented it.
Simultaneously, a throwback and a leap forward in one swoop, “a thousand times again” makes something as ordinary as a declaration of unwavering faith and devotion, and makes it extraordinary. On the surface, the musicality may seem very standard for a popular indie hit in the making, but the layering complexities elevate this work far beyond. In a paper for Berklee, Ritz addressed the fact that music “as an artistic medium, more than any other, houses these [aforementioned] contradictions.” The music Ritz creates continues to be both old and new mixed together in a large bundle. These “big songs” hold space for every conceivable element of artistic choice to bring these “little things” fully to life. As an artist, Ritz has the brilliance in his creative choices of many far more known artists. There is little mystery as to why he will be streamed “a thousand times again.”
- Harrison Eason
