Rich Ragany And The Digressions – Beyond Nostalgia & Heartache

After fronting, writing and putting out three albums in three years with Role Models, the Canadian born, London located, songwriter Rich Ragany set out to expand his musical horizons with his latest project, Rich Ragany & The Digressions, who are set to release Beyond Nostalgia & Heartache, the follow up to 2019’s Like We’ll Never Make It, on the 25th June. Ragany is joined on this album by an impressive set of collaborators, including Andy Brook (SHUSH), Gaff (Glitterati, Dedwardians, Desperate Measures, Hollywood Brats), Ricky McGuire (UK Subs, The Men They Couldn’t Hang), Simon Maxwell (Role Models, The Yo-Yos) and Kit Swing (Mallory Knox, Seven Days And Doesn’t Die).

Rich Ragany produced three remarkably consistent albums in three years with the Role Models (2015’s The Go To Guy, 2016’s Forest Lawn & 2017’s Dance Moves), but with The Digressions he took his foot of the gas, leaving it a whole two years before releasing Like We’ll We’ll Never Make It, his debut with The Digressions, and now, despite everything that 2020 and 2021 has thrown at us, he’s back with Beyond Nostalgia & Heartache. There is an undeniable undercurrent of the perfect punky power pop that the Role Models delivered, this shouldn’t surprise anyone given half of the band appear on the album, but with The Digressions that energy is married to a blend of rock ‘n roll, blues and country that sees Ragany deliver an album, his fifth in seven years, that is simultaneously surprising and reassuringly familiar.

The opening track, Sometimes We Can Hear The Voices, eases you into Beyond Nostalgia And Heartache, a track that demonstrates one side of Rich Ragany And The Digressions, soulful, anthemic and laid back, the flip side of this are the tracks that reassuringly hark back to the power pop roots of the Role Models in their prime. Recorded remotely during lockdown at The Brook in Wallington, the studio where Ragany’s four previous full lengths were recorded, Beyond Nostalgia And Heartache is an album that showcases the depth of Rich Ragany’s influences. Backed by the impressive list of collaborators that are The Digressions, and with Ragany’s raw vocals counterbalanced by the sweeter tones of co-vocalist Kit Swing, the album continues to showcase his softer side, whilst staying true to the roots of his former outfit.

If you were expecting a return to the full tilt punky power pop of the Role Models, well this isn’t quite it, although tracks like Heartbreakers Don’t Try and Marionette will certainly hit the spot for long term followers of Ragany’s sonic exploits. I’m pretty sure Rich Ragany could have carried on knocking out an album a year of short and sweet power pop classics, he certainly has a knack for that kinda thing, but this showcases the depth of his songwriting and proves that the shift in style on Like We’ll Never Make It was no fluke. If you think of Rich Ragany’s recordings in terms of a night out, then Beyond Nostalgia And Heartache is that sweet spot in the early hours when all is right with the world.

You can pre-order Beyond Nostalgia And Heartache via Bandcamp