For Hub City Times

MARSHFIELD – “My interest in ambient music grew after struggling with insomnia for several years,” said Marshfield producer, Ryan Summers. “It helped keep my brain occupied on the nights when I couldn’t sleep.  Only certain ambient music worked, though. I wanted to see if I could make more of that music.”

Ryan Summers is an eclectic producer based in Marshfield, who began working with synth-rock, but quickly jumped into a folk-rock collaboration with Arizona-based musician, Nate Cherrier.

In 2017, Summers  decided to release his first solo album. He drastically changed pace for this project, producing ambient music instead of the rock-based.

Ryan composed his songs using software synthesizers, adding realism by playing parts through amps and recording the resulting room noise with microphones. He performed this process of “re-amping” at the Chestnut Avenue Center for the Arts.

“The Chestnut Center has some really wild sound spaces,” he added. “The chapel hall is amazing, but even the corridors have some cool reverbs. Sitting quietly, listening to those sounds in such spacious rooms, was a truly meditative experience.”

Ryan said that he felt the computer synthesizers, combined with the infused realism, created an “other-worldly, yet relaxing” quality – one that those on the cusp of sleep might find useful.

The album is titled “F51.01,” after the International Classification of Diseases code for insomnia.  The digital-only release will be available on Spotify and Apple Music Feb 10.