Ryder Learns From Herself

Listening to Serena Ryder's new album, Is It O.K, is like taking a steep stairway up into her brain through her ears and then walking all the way back down to her heart. It's a deeply personal album where listeners learn a lot about Ryder's break-ups, make-ups, anger management, love fumblings and questions, with a couple of "You Oughta Know" moments thrown in for good measure.

"I definitely felt like there was a lot to get off my chest," Ryder explains at a cozy table in the ballroom of Toronto's Gladstone Hotel. "But it was a really huge process for me over a really long time.

"There's a very large spectrum of emotions on the record, and anger is one of them. I don't think it's a big, huge part of it, from what I was going through. A lot of the record was me sitting down and having a conversation with me and trying to listen to myself."

The result is a highly personalized and strong rootsy rock record that the songstress needed to release after being criticized for recording her 2006 covers album, If Your Memory Serves You Well, too early in a career that's entrenched in songwriting.

"In general right now, it's cooler to write your own songs, and I don't think that there's enough love and respect for people who are doing their own thing and not trying to be something else," Ryder says. "If you know where you're coming from and you're solid in your heart, then you shouldn't feel like people are trying to get you to explain yourself.

"As long as you know where you're coming from, it doesn't matter. But that's the hardest part of being a human is knowing where you're coming from.

"I wanted to sing other people's songs because I wanted to pay homage to my teachers. Also, a lot of songwriters say they receive their songs from another kind of source. I believe that those songs were written to sing and to get to the people."

Ryder plans to tour well into 2009 with hopes of getting into people's minds and hearts. She also hopes to learn from herself and maybe get a "brand new start" as she pleads in the throaty rock-a-by, "Brand New Love."

"The next two years is gonna be me listening," Ryder confesses. "Usually when I write a song and hear it, I think I know what it's about, but I don't actually know.

"Truly. I'm really interested to see what I learn. You can't learn anything from the world if you can't learn from yourself. So I did consciously try to make this record about opening that place for listening and learning."

You can get all weak in the knees and see Ryder here:

Nov. 14 Drayton, ON @ Drayton Festival Theatre
Nov. 16 London, ON @ London Music Club
Nov. 17 Ottawa, ON @ Zaphod Beeblebrox
Nov. 19 Toronto, ON @ The Mod Club