Ryan Wayne has been through the wringer. He spent 10 years away from the music business, then suffered two strokes inspiring his return to recording music. On this, his second album since the return, he plunges headfirst into the messy, mercurial thing called life. His truths are often hard-fought, but on Functioning Dysfunctionals, he’s always standing at the end of the day.
The album is a legend of heartbreak and tears played out to the sounds of haunted electric guitars and keyboards full of sorrow as the title track plays out a relationship that finds a way to continue despite the heartbreak that keeps getting heaped on. “Woke up in a haze, you were nowhere to be found/ All the dew morning roses spread out on the ground/ You spent all those years working on something that doesn’t work/ I wish I would have believed you when you showed me who you were.” Written by Wayne and his wife, there is plenty of regret, yet they remain together, suggesting something more substantial binds them to each other.
Addiction comes in many forms, and when two generations follow the same path, the heartbreak is almost unimaginable. Lion in the Walls tells such a story. The payoff is that at the end of the day, a dying father finally sees his son with a sense of compassion that can only come from understanding the compulsion firsthand.
Musically, the album has an almost Springsteen quality to it. Drums snap things to attention, while guitars ring with drama and keyboards find the chords that bind. There are touches that change the equation, like the violin of No Easy Way Out merging with the acoustic guitar before the chorus rebuilds a wall of sound. Hitting the mark with notes built from the Beach Boys catalogue, Loves Lost Languages speaks of star-spangled dreams, yet it’s the small touches like Wayne’s mandolin that illustrate how he knows when to lay back and when to pour it on. Moments come alive, from the chorus of Between These Walls to the heartbreaking sounds of Grand Illusions, where the song almost unbelievably takes on shades of Pink Floyd.
Ryan Wayne has delivered an Americana album that blends and balances so many different influences that it’s almost impossible to categorise. He has woven these songs with the skill of a musician who not only listens but incorporates different strands of music from the last 60 years. Functioning Dysfunctionals distinguishes itself by combining honesty with a pure passion for the form and function of music.
Functioning Dysfunctionals (May 9th, 2025) Ruby-Lu Records
