RISING ARTIST JEAN RYDEN’S DEBUT PROJECT PARALLEL UNIVERSE OUT NOW

photo :  Angela Ricciardi & Silken Weinberg

Parallel Universe, the self-written and co-produced debut project from rising artist, songwriter and producer Jean Ryden, is out now; listen here.

Parallel Universe features previously shared tracks “Tired of Goodbyes,” “Butterfly Effect,” “Parallel Universe” and “Chlorine,” Ryden’s cinematic debut single which earned praise from Consequence and Ones to Watch. The project’s overarching visual narrative was imagined by Ryden with close creative collaborators Angela Ricciardi and Silken Weinberg (Ethel Cain, Albert Hammond Jr.).

Much of Parallel Universe finds the vocalist and songwriter grappling with the emotional aftermath of the tragic passing of her parents: traversing feelings of longing, loss and the overwhelming desire for a different world—a parallel universe—to take hold. Ryden explains, “I’ve always had this feeling that my life before everything continued on in this parallel universe, and I’m trapped in the wrong one.”

Jean Ryden began studying music at age three, when she started cello lessons as a child on Long Island. Music had long been in her family. Her maternal grandparents were founding members of the Long Island Philharmonic; her grandfather on her mother’s side was a session violinist who had played with Stevie Nicks and Chet Baker and her grandmother, Jean Ryden Eley, is the inspiration for her artist persona. Ryden’s Julliard-trained mother passed on the family’s passion for music, instilling a two-hours-a-day practice habit in her daughter. 

Ryden’s early training, combined with her study of producers like Rostam, James Blake and Sufjan Stevens, and lyrical influences Elliott Smith, Regina Spektor and Mitski, inform her classic pop songwriting and meticulous production.