Any artist will tell you that, in the right circumstance, great pain generates great art, and there may be no greater pain from which to create than the end of a relationship. Former Spitfire multi-instrumentalist Ryan Ostiguy followed that familiar path when he translated his anguish at the end of his marriage into the songs that comprise his aptly titled and largely solo debut, Diaries of a Broken Heart, under the banner of Castle Project. Other than some strings and brass, Vancouver native Ostiguy does everything on Diaries (percussion and backing vocals were provided by New Pornographer Kurt Dahle, as was guitar from NP producer Howard Redekopp, who also produces here), but the album never has the claustrophobic sound that often plagues one-man recordings. Ostiguy infuses Diaries with a baroque pop lushness that tilts toward the melancholy piano balladry of Coldplay with flashes of Beatlesque melodicism swirled into an innate sense of contemporary pop/rock anthemics. Lyrically, anyone who’s ever been dumped will recognize the phases Ostiguy traverses on Diaries; disbelief, bitterness, regret, reflection, responsibility, acceptance. Diaries may be a tough listen for anyone with fresh wounds from a similar situation, but there’s no denying that Ostiguy has artfully created a downcast musical expression of his emotional state at the dissolution of his marriage. Here’s hoping that Ostiguy will utilize Castle Project to effectively translate the joy he will surely experience after the heartache of his divorce has dissipated.
~ Brian Baker
Release date: October 24, 2006
