Ryan Power has never meet an influence he didn’t like, nor one that he couldn’t twist in service to his own skewed sense of pop idealism. The latest song “The Prize” from his forthcoming Identity Picks LP, due out June 25th via NNA Tapes, is just more proof that Power can draw on widely disparate musical touchstones to concoct his own concise brew of fractured pop music. The glossy pop/rock of the late 70’s is set square in his sites on this track, and artists like Todd Rundgren and Electric Light Orchestra are easy points of reference, as are more modern bands like Camera Obscura and Allo Darlin’. This twee-meets-soft rock aesthetic is one that could easily have lead to over-indulgence and a hyperactive sense of self-importance, but Power manages to stay faithful to his influences while also carving out his own comfy niche among these bands. Check out the shimmering pop instrumentation and melodic sheen of “The Power” below.
