NFV Song Spotlight: Ryan Fuller's Lover n' Friend

The main reason I went to a recent Swyndle night at Harvard & Stone was because I learned that Bruvvy was on the schedule. I have to say they're one of my favorite bands at the moment. You can read one of my articles on the band here. I was also interested in the other two bands. The opener had recently played a WFNM night that I wasn't able to attend. I was thinking, "Oh yeah, I get to catch them at Harvard & Stone." The other band follows me on Instagram and I figured it would be a good time to catch a set. 

Ryan Fuller at Harvard & Stone

It so happened that both of those other two bands had to cancel at the last moment. I'm sure that sent Swyndle in a scramble to find replacements -- surprise, replacements were found. Also, all this scheduling changes resulted in Bruvvy being the second band of the night instead of the last band. That caused an amusing situation as one of their fans showed up right as they were starting their last song. The word "What" was heard when Bruvvy stated that they were playing one last song.

Did this change in the line-up result in anything interesting for me? Well, yes. The first performer was Ryan Fuller, playing a solo set. I will admit that I was initially wondering why it was taking him so long to start his set. He went up on stage and then asked someone at the stage to get him a gin and tonic. Once he got the drink and took a few sips, he spent the next few moment trying to locate his electric guitar tuner in the pockets of his jacket and pants. After finding it, there was a rather lengthy amount of time spent tuning his acoustic guitar. At this point, I was getting a bit skeptical about how this was going to go. Does he know what he's doing?  

Ryan Fuller at Harvard & Stone

That sense of skepticism dissipated as soon as he started to sing along with his perfectly tuned guitar. Wearing a scarf, which worked perfectly due to the cold weather outside, he sang a series of Irish tunes (I'm using Irish as that is how he described one of his songs). The atmosphere of the set felt like being inside a pub. Low key conversation occurred in the crowd at a respectable noise level while a handful of others hung out near the stage, mesmerized. After each song, people who were talking with friends interrupted their conversation to clap. I get that it is often rude to talk during a set at venues such as Hotel Café. Yet, it just seemed perfectly fine in this context. It just all felt like a low key moment in time where the songs help facilitate the conversations. 

The song he described as an Irish goodbye song had the lyrics, "After twilight, I'll be gone." Another song that he called "Pleasure Point Garden" had the lyrics, "I met up with you. It was in Santa Cruz." The one song from the set that is released on YouTube is "Black Palms," which you can listen to here. 

Ryan Fuller at Harvard & Stone

"Lover n' Friend" was one of those songs that has the tone that facilitates thoughts of just hanging out at hidden pub where people randomly walk on by without a thought, but is filled with people having meaningful conversations while being serenaded. With a hint of raspy vocals and acoustic guitar, Fuller delivered the song's lyrics with sincerity:  

Early one morning, I woke up a man.
Everything I wanted, it's in the palm of my hands.
Didn't go to the moon, wasn't all in my head.

I later had a brief conversation with him and learned that he works at the Moroccan Lounge and occasionally at the Teragram Ballroom. I'll need to say hello should we ever cross paths at those two venues.