Happy New Year! Yearbook Vinyl! & More!

Happy New Year!!! I hope that your 2013 wrapped up more beautifully than you could have imagined - and that 2014 is already feeling like a substantial upgrade!

YEARBOOK VINYL - NOW SHIPPING!

Pleased to let you know that my 36-song “Yearbook” project is now available on Vinyl (for the first time ever!) and is NOW SHIPPING!

Grab your 3-Vinyl Records set here!

YEAR: 2013 (THANK YOU!)

2013. What a year. It was my favorite year yet! I’m so very grateful to be able to say that… and I have you to thank! Your support and kindness throughout last year blew me away. Thank you so very much for listening. This year I wrote over 20 songs, which turned out to be my most personal songs yet. Without your ears and support, those songs would not exist. Thank you so much for letting me lean into music and for leaning in with me. So so so grateful for you.

YEAR: 2014

I adore starting over. The older I get, the more I appreciate it. The idea that the whole world says farewell to one year, and welcomes in another together, is absolutely beautiful. But, if I’m being honest, I was a little nervous about 2014... It has a lot to live up to, following in the footsteps of 2013, my favorite year yet. My expectations were/are high. But I think that’s a good thing! Now that we’re 2 days into 2014, I’m feeling pretty confident - this one’s gonna be spectacular!

In 2014, you can expect a TON of new Sleeping At Last music: Atlas: Land - a 4 song EP (coming early this year!), Atlas: Oceans - a 5-song instrumental EP (coming shortly after Land) … and, Atlas continues with the Atlas: Year Two collection (will announce soon!! so excited!)

Plus, there are a heap of announcements that I can't yet talk about... but soon! So very excited to share.

TOP 10 MOVIES

Some of you may already know this...I'm obsessed with movies. Can't get enough of 'em. I saw 106 of them in 2013. (half embarrassed, half proud of that...) I'm also obsessed with making lists. So obviously, here's my annual Top 10 Movies list for 2013 movies!

Anyway, here’s to an incredible 2014!!! Once more, thank you so much for letting my songs into your world.

Much Love, Ryan & Team Sleeping At Last

p.s. here’s a list of things i love right now…

1. Barone's Pizza (just discovered this little hidden gem here in IL. my fav pizza lately.) 2. Settlers of Catan (got any wheat? How about ore?) 3. The Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story (great doc about the bros. who wrote many of disney's classic songs)

Last-Minute Shopper SALE!

Season’s Greetings! (I feel like a martian invented that saying...) Can you believe there are only a few days left until Christmas?! I cannot. Craziness is what that is. In any case...

LAST-MINUTE SHOPPER SALE!

If you’re anything like me, you’re probably still scrambling to finish your holiday shopping (and will be all the way up ’til Christmas day!) Well, if you’re still looking for a gift idea for a loved one (or yourself!), I’m pleased to inform you that we are offering a Last-Minute Shopper SALE on my latest 26-song project, “Atlas”!

Get 20% OFF an “Atlas Passport", a digital subscription which includes: 26 songs (mp3's), exclusive digital art by Geoff Benzing and more!

Use the code: ELEVENTHHOUR when you check out!

Order "Atlas" Here!

Note: If you’re ordering as a gift, select the “Gift” option to receive a printable gift certificate!

Merriest of Christmases to you!!!

Much Love, Ryan Sleeping At Last

"Space 2" Out NOW! Yearbook Vinyl! TCM!

Happiest of Tuesdays to you! SPACE 2 EP OUT NOW

I am so very pleased to announce that my brand-new EP, “Space 2" is officially OUT NOW!!

Space 2” is the latest installment of my “Atlas” project and is of course, the sibling release to “Space 1.” (Side A and B of the same record, if you will.)

Grab "Space 2" now from iTunes (or anywhere digital music is sold!)

HUGE thanks to Sharon Gerber who played Cello gorgeously on the song “Saturn.” She’s such a sweet soul and it pours out through her Cello. So grateful to have her as my guest on this EP! Please check out her solo music, Celloasis! - It’s so beautiful!!

I truly had a wonderful time writing these Space-inspired songs and am so thrilled to share them with you! This EP concludes the Space themed portion of Atlas. Our universe is absolutely stunning in every way imaginable. Thank you for exploring it a little with me in these songs!

I wrote some extended release notes about Space 2 here.

YEARBOOK ON VINYL PRE-ORDER!

For the first time ever, my 36-song project Yearbook is being pressed on Vinyl!! I’m so thrilled with how this set is turning out! You get 3 records, 12 album-sized fancy posters featuring each of the 12 Yearbook covers (lyrics to every song on the backs) and a digital download of the collection - all beautifully wrapped in a classy Yearbook box/slipcase!

Pre-Order Yearbook (First Pressing!) on Vinyl here!

(Note: All orders are first come, first serve!)

SLEEPING AT LAST + TURNER CLASSIC MOVIES!

I’ve been a longtime fan of TCM, so I’m beyond thrilled to announce that my song “In the Embers” is featured in their yearend “In Memoriam” piece. It begins today and plays sparadically in the weeks to come on TCM. Such an honor. I wrote this song for a dear friend of mine who passed away earlier this year, so it means a lot to me to see this song carry on in this way.

Thank you for reading!! I'm hard at work on the next Atlas EP, "Land" which will release soon!!

Love, Ryan - Sleeping At Last

PS here’s a list of things i love right now…

1. Garrett’s “Chicago Style” Popcorn (caramel popcorn + cheese popcorn = mmmmm) 2. Garrett Campagna (an incredible designer who’s been lending a hand to the SAL team lately! this garrett even rules MORE than garrett’s popcorn. truth.) 3. This amazing 2013 Trailer Mashup Video (i love movies!!!) 4. My New House (my wife and i just bought our very first home and we’re so pumped about it!!)

Space 2 - Song Notes

Hello there! Today marks the release of "Space 2," so I thought I'd write down some release notes to go alongside it.

TRACK LIST

1. Jupiter 2. Saturn 3. Uranus 4. Neptune

... and of course,

5. Pluto

Space 2 is (obviously) the sequel to Space 1, thus completing my "Space" series within Atlas. Just like the Darkness and Light EPs were envisioned to be two halves of one “album,” Space 1 and 2 were meant to compliment one another as well; Two sides of the same record, which I'm calling Space. (duh)

While I was writing its sibling EP, Space 1, I found myself constantly immersing myself in all things Space as I wrote. For Space 2, the obsession continued- constantly glued to my telescope, constantly watching space-related tv and films. I had endless conversations with smarter people than myself too - all in an effort to gather up the tiny pieces we know about our gorgeous Solar System.

Nerd fact: You may, or may not have noticed… Space 1 feature what scientists call the “Inner Planets.” Space 2, feature the “Outer Planets."

I truly had a wonderful time writing these songs. Our universe is stunning in every way imaginable.

GUESTS:

SHARON GERBER (played Cellos on "Saturn”) - Sharon is a brand-new friend of mine. We met just last month in Atlanta, where she played Cello for me for the first time at a conference. She’s such a sweet soul and it pours out through her incredible Cello playing! After hearing her first note at the show, I knew I just had to invite her to be a guest ASAP on Atlas, so when I was writing “Saturn,” it just made perfect sense. Her recordings are so lovely and add so much depth to this song! Please check out her solo music, Celloasis! - It’s absolutely stunning!!

SONG NOTES

1. JUPITER

I wrote this song from the perspective of Galileo Galilei, who discovered Jupiter’s 4 Moons, which are consequently named the "Gailelean Moons." The song is divided into 4 parts, representing each of the moon’s Mr. Galileo discovered. If you listen close, you’ll hear some radio static that NASA recorded of Jupiter’s unique storm systems. Because Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system, it's an awful lot of planet to explore - so as I wrote this song, I tried to have it constantly progressing into new territory.

2. SATURN

I liked the idea of following Jupiter with a song perhaps written from Galileo’s children perspective. It’s very much a song about losing someone close and deeply loved, but it’s about the good they left behind in our lives and how to reflect that in your relationships in front of you. The collection of Cellos on this song were played by Sharon Gerber. Saturn is of course our most photogenic planet, with it's gorgeous rings, so musically I aimed as best I could to write something worthy of such good looks. I held the word "beautiful" as a measuring stick constantly as I wrote the music, asking myself "is this beautiful.. enough?" This is of course an impossible task, but I had fun with the challenge.

3. URANUS

I have to admit, it took my a while to figure out how to approach this oddly named planet. Ultimately I decided that the only way to avoid 10 year old humorous connections to the lyrics, was to make it an instrumental. So I stared at images of the planet and watched as much as I could, learning about this planet. Like all of these Space songs, I tried to write a score for the planet. Its own little anthem. I learned a ton about the weather patterns of the planet - which I let inform the instrumentation. Some serious storms going on up there! So I tried to write this in a very serious, almost brooding tone.

4. NEPTUNE

Named after the god of the sea, I wrote this one with the Sea in my mind. Foreshadowing the upcoming “Oceans” EP. Neptune, the planet, is considered an Ice Giant - so I tried to use as many cold and wet sounding instruments as I could. (You can even hear some sampled melting Ice and snow in parts of this one!) This one was a really fun one to put together - though it’s a challenging story, being helplessly lost at sea. Inspired a bit by the film Gravity and All is Lost.

5. PLUTO

I knew right away when I was sorting out the ideas for Atlas, that on the Space EPs, Pluto had to be a part! So I made it a “bonus” track! It’s not really written from the perspective of Pluto, per say, but I liked the ideas of writing a song about the emotions that we human’s could assign to this lonely, demoted planet. It turned out to be a very personal song for me, though I consider it to be the most “fun” of the bunch.

As with all of the Atlas songs, I’ll be writing more detailed stories behind each song in the coming months! In the meantime though, I’ll be working hard on “Land” and “Oceans,” the remaining EPs for this Atlas Year!

Completing the Space-themed music for Atlas is bittersweet. I feel so grateful to have had a few months to dive in so deep and it feels amazing to reach the finish line and move onto new themes, BUT I will miss calling all of the hours I spend watching amazing Space documentaries and movies "research."

I truly had a wonderful time writing these songs. Our universe is stunning in every way imaginable. Thank you for giving me your ears to explore this stuff with you. It means so much to me!

Love, Ryan - Sleeping At Last