‘Midwest Kids’ is a gently strummed recognition that each generation faces, more or less, the same issues as they rise up the years – a point which Andrew Ryan took to heart as he watched his own daughter move from being a kid to being a pre-teen. Changes we all go through, but this time observed from the other side, which needs its own acceptance as Ryan sings: “Your face says it all / You resist when I call / Life will not always be like this / I’m at war with the obvious.”
It’s taken from Andrew Ryan’s new album ‘A Tiny Death‘ whose title refers to the many deaths/transformations that occur in life. As Andrew Ryan puts it: “I came across the french phrase ‘La petite mort’ which means a little death. It translates to ‘the brief loss or weakening of consciousness. It also refers to ‘a short period of melancholy’ which is something I can relate to – death and transformation isn’t necessarily a bad thing or something to fear. For me growing is also allowing some death to occur in your life.”