Singer, composer, multi-instrumentalist and disability rights campaigner Ruth Lyon has released a master class of introspective contemporary music. Her debut album, Poems & Non Fiction, comprises a series of songs, each one a testament to Ruth’s incredible journey of resilience, searching for the truth and looking to the future with optimism. It also chronicles a life filled with multiple physical and emotional challenges, most recently the pain of a broken heart. The intensity and honesty of Lyon’s poetic lyrics reach deeply into the feelings of the listeners creating a connection with them. The magical background music soothes the soul, affirming and celebrating the growth and healing process.
Ruth gives some context to her debut: “This album has been brewing in the back of my mind for so much of my life. It harks back in time delving into the nature of resilience, it explores my present in all its colourful mess and it celebrates that the future is always open to new adventures with a free mind. It is emotional and authentic, sometimes painful but it’s also fun and reflective with a huge amount of myself poured right into the center.”
The first track, “Artist,” opens with somber, metronomic piano keys ringing out in measured time like church bells, Ruth’s vocals and violin soaring effortlessly above a broken accordion sound drifting through below as she reveals the source of her sadness: “An artist impression, the before and after/ I lost the laughter.”
“This song is about losing identity, but finding rescue in music, reconnecting me with my soul and a simple spiritual acceptance; it is what it is, and I am real – tell me I’m real.”
The dreamy clarinet tones and melancholic strings on “Wickerman” overlay the mesmeric groove of the piano, bass and percussion. Lyon’s vocals reflect her vulnerability, sincerity and honesty as she reflects on her acceptance of loss, heartbreak and what it means to be human.
“I was living in the shadow borders between lucid dreaming and painful reality when I wrote this, alone yet haunted by ghosts. I wanted to use the iconography of the burning Wickerman to chase away the winter through fire and ceremony, welcoming the Spring, a re-seeding of soul into new light – There is no end to the seasons of healing.”
With its haunting intro setting the scene in “Books,” Ruth’s stop-start piano keys weave in and out of the strings then come together with vocal calls to: “Weigh me today/ And weigh me in again tomorrow/ Rocks in my socks/ Balloons tied round my elbows.” Her revelation of the whole situation is “No big reveal/ I’m jealous/ What a dirty way to feel.”
I was imagining my life as a series of poems and non-fiction (which life really is, if you think about it) that at times has felt unreadable, overwhelming, impenetrable, senseless, unreal – a collection that I’ll never have time to read. I filmed the video in my house – it’s my safe place, somewhere I can inhabit my inner life, somewhere I feel free to imagine and write, rather than read, my own story.
As close to a commercial song as the album gets, the magnificently arranged “Perfect” is an ironic dig at modern living. The mocking chorus line, “Isn’t it all so perfect, Sundays were made for worship” contrasts with the reality: “My skin is crawling, I want to shout.” Ruth states, “It’s about how modern life traps us in a toxic pursuit of perfection – we’re all celebrities of our own life, worshiping at the alter of our egos. It’s kind of infected us all, I think. The perfect mother, the perfect wife, the perfect health, and a perfect body flaunting perfect hair/skin/bum – blah blah blah.”
“Hill” is the most raw and honest confession of heartbreak on the album, Lyon adding layers of imagery including religious symbolism to explore grief and loss. The holy ghost, the holy island is a reference to Lindisfarne, an iconic landmark of the North-East. Lyon pleads, “I see a new direction/ I need a new religion, I need a new religion/ Is this the hill you really want to die on?” If that is the case, then after death comes resurrection. These allusions to the cycle of nature, reincarnation, winter, and spring underpin the whole album.
“‘Hill’ is about processing and accepting the end of love after experiencing guttural heartbreak. I needed to express that pain and began documenting my feelings as they arose, but I was also searching for strength, redemption, and forgiveness … I found the words ‘everything still stands’ very comforting, to say that whatever happens in life and loss, time keeps flowing, the wind keepings blowing – and the moon never ends her cycle of faces. Hope is eternal and humans always have the power to recover and move forwards.”
Ruth’s outstanding vocal range is evident in the jazz-infused classic “Confetti,” with its sumptuous brass enhancement. Despite all the doubt, in all the pain, there is a defiance and a prayer to the future; “I will build a church someday/ I trust to hold me back from breaking,” but the journey is just beginning so perhaps the album is the marker of that beginning: “I am only just waking up, hung out and heady.’ Lyon wrote the horn arrangement to evoke a winter funeral procession.
“‘Confetti’ began as a poem about hibernation in winter: death but also rebirth. Retreating into solitude is both natural and vital so we can return reborn and ready to grow again in Spring.”
The subject of ”Caesar” inspired the iconic album cover, where Lyon poses as Boudica, slayer of Romans. A fantasy born out of revenge: “The knife, the knife, the knife … I put it all in you.” Lyon whispers as she leans over the body, “If god only knew what I thought of you.” The repetition of the elongated ‘oooohs’ in the chorus is a clever lyrical device which Ruth sometimes uses to reinforce a message or to communicate the start of a slow lurch towards a dramatic event.
“I have felt a huge pressure in my life to be measured and stoic, not to affect anyone with my emotions, as if anger is reserved for others. But I now refute that and will allow myself to express how I feel with freedom. I wanted to confront misogynistic expectations of silent suffering.”
A ghostly metallic dulcimer and electric bass pulse throughout “November,” the gloom echoed in the backing instruments and vocals reflecting a haunting winter wind winnowing through a death of self. “I died in late winter, the frost it was swift but haunted… Does she watch me when I see her in reflections.” But as ever Lyon refuses to despair, understanding instinctively that the darkest hour becomes the dawn: “when all is said this won’t be me forever.”
“It’s about a period of overwhelming grief, where the only thing that held me from drowning was the kindness of friends who helped me back to life. I wanted to capture an intensity but also fragility. There are many themes in this album: seasons, the moon, time, healing, ancestry, life, and loss – this song encapsulates it all. It charts a journey of personal rebirth from the depths of emotional winter.”
Another melodic track, filled with drama, “Cover” with its penetrating brass interludes over the steady rhythm initially catches the listener unaware of its central message. Hidden in the heart of the song lies the truth of the album: “Love fierce, no fear.” And again a meditation on rebirth and renewal, this time through a ceremonial awakening: “Come on, come over me … uncuff me, come on, I am complete.”
“I was inspired by the ancient Yew Tree in the cemetery of St Cuthbert’s Church, Beltingham Northumberland; rooted in pagan soil and draped in history, this tree has breathed the same air for a thousand years, as human history ebbs and flows. This enduring symbol of life and demise, held together with rusted chains, makes me think of the continuity of existence amidst decay. The symbolic yew evokes eternal cycles and lyrical references to sycamore seeds conjure mystical peace, honoring life’s transient beauty.”
Referencing Bjork’s iconic interview, Lyon sings, “A poet can lie to you, but I will be honest with you,” the balladic “Weather’ reflects on the tension between truth and imagination. The synchronicity between the vocals and backing musicians is breathtaking.
“Bjork’s caution about poets resonated with me, reflecting the dual nature of creativity. My marriage mirrored this complexity, blessed yet burdened by shared stories and care. It’s a powerful thing to truly be inside another person – ‘I feel you like the weather’ – one I feel privileged to have shared and there is no doubt that my illness connected us in a beautifully deep way. However, in the end, as a disabled wife, the dynamics of an inter-abled relationship left me isolated.”
The poignant “Seasons” encapsulate the theme and the finale of the album. The hurt and distress in Lyon’s voice are palpable. “I cannot be alone, I should not be alone” is Ruth’s impassioned plea as she seeks an explanation: “I see no reason, you have no feeling/ Why are you leaving?” It is through seeking the truth and finding solace in “the changing of the seasons” which enables her to seize control. Seasons change. Humans change. The world turns. Winter to spring to summer to autumn to winter to spring, and on we go.
“Change can be painful, sad, heartbreaking. But this is not a tragedy; it is the truth. One of the only truths, if not THE truth. And in facing that truth, I’ve found a kind of wisdom and peace, growing into the seasons of life like a tree. I have become bolder, more powerful, more authentically myself and able to laugh at anything. I have learnt, finally, that I am in control—a truly powerful realization.”
Over two years ago Ruth headed back into the studio with the talented and influential producer John Parish to start work on this debut album, reflecting and processing the breakdown of her marriage paired with a questioning of body and identity. In Lyon’s own words the album “charts a journey of rebirth from the depths of emotional winter.” Parish has encouraged Ruth on this and earlier recordings to sing from her mind and emotions and not to sing like anyone else. This advice contributes to the unique, painfully raw, soul- baring, at times heart breaking, very special and, at times, distressing recording.
Ruth Lyon is an exceptional individual who is introspective, retrospective, and looks towards the future; she not only pursues power and strength in fragility, and beauty in imperfection, but also achieves these highest qualities. Ruth has searched for and found the truth, gained control in the most traumatic of personal journeys, and above all shared her empowerment with listeners through her gift of music.
Credits:
All songs written by Ruth Lyon
Ruth Lyon – vocals, electronic drums, piano, strings
Tommy Arch – drums, percussion, bass guitar
John Parish – guitars, synth, percussion
Produced and mixed by John Parish
Engineered by Oliver Baldwin at J&J Studios
Mastered by Loud
Album available from here from June 13th