The Coral

Ryder-Jones was the lead guitarist with The Coral and played on the band's first five albums. In 2005, he briefly stopped touring with the band due to a stress-related illness.^[2] It was announced on 9 January 2008 that Ryder-Jones had left The Coral and the remaining five members would continue with the band.^[3]

Early solo work and If... (2009–2011)

Following his departure from The Coral, Ryder-Jones began writing songs and instrumental pieces and uploaded several demo recordings to his MySpace profile.^[4] In 2009, Ryder-Jones composed the score for his friend's short film Leave Taking, directed by Laurence Easeman.^[5][6] The four compositions were released on his debut EP A Leave Taking Soundtrack as a free download in July 2011 by Double Six Records (a subsidiary of Domino Recording Company) via their website^[7] and a music video was filmed for the title track "A Leave Taking".^[8] The EP was also released on 12-inch and digital download formats on 26 September 2011. Ryder-Jones also composed the scores for the short films It's Natural to Be Afraid (2010) and Bed (2011).^[9]

Ryder-Jones' debut solo album If... was written as a musical adaptation of Italo Calvino's 1979 novel If on a Winter's Night a Traveler,^[10] with each composition representing a different chapter in the book.^[11] The idea for the album was first conceived after a meeting with Laurence Bell, the head of Domino Records, who had suggested Ryder-Jones record an "imaginary film score".^[12] Recording sessions for If... took place during 2010 at various locations on Merseyside, including Elevator Studios, the Scandinavian Church of Liverpool, The Friary in Everton and Ryder-Jones' mother's house in West Kirby. Most of the album's tracks were recorded with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic orchestra.^[13] Ryder-Jones' musical influences for the album came from film score composers such as Abel Korzeniowski, Michael Galasso and Clint Mansell and rock artists such as Syd Barrett, Nick Cave and Gorky's Zygotic Mynci.^[13] If... was released on 14 November 2011 and received largely positive reviews from music critics.^[14]

A Bad Wind Blows in My Heart, scrapped third album, and West Kirby County Primary (2012–2018)

On 29 April 2013, the soundtrack to the 2012 film Piggy was self-released by Ryder-Jones on Bandcamp, with proceeds going to the Trekstock charity.

Ryder-Jones' second and third albums, A Bad Wind Blows in My Heart, released 2013, and West Kirby County Primary, released 2015, are both a departure from If...'s orchestral nature. They do, however, retain the concept album theme (both albums focus around Ryder-Jones' life). A Bad Wind Blows in My Heart is a collection of folk and folk rock songs, influenced by Ryder-Jones' love of Bill Callahan^[15][16] as well as various other minimal and folk artists. West Kirby County Primary is a heavy, alternative and folk rock album, influenced by bands such as Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, Super Furry Animals, The Strokes and Pavement.^[17] It was recorded with friends, adding to the band-theme Ryder-Jones was trying to capture. The track Wild Roses was co-written by Ryder-Jones and friends Emma Leatherbarrow (of MiNNETONKA) and Liam Power (of By the Sea); Ryder-Jones claims to have only written the chorus. "Seabirds" was co-written by Ryder-Jones and Leatherbarrow.^[18] Half of the album was written at Ryder-Jones' home, before continuing to work on the material at his home studio, located in his old bedroom in his mother's house, and at Parr St. Studios in Liverpool.^[19]

In an interview with BBC Radio 6 Music, Ryder-Jones stated that he had chosen to scrap an album's worth of material after being unsatisfied with the result. He said, "I wasn't writing things that were making me happy in the moment. I got lost a little bit in why I was doing it and as a result wasn't living in the most responsible way. So the record I made during that time, thankfully, Domino were kind enough to let me drop. Some of the things that had happened to me though during the making of that record, the one I eventually dropped, turned out to be interesting enough to make good songs out of!"

Ryder-Jones embarked on a ten-date tour of England and Scotland from 24 October to 14 November 2015 to celebrate the release of West Kirby County Primary. The first five dates were in support of Spector.^[20] He continued to tour into 2015, including various festival dates. He concluded the album's tour cycle with a final leg in late 2016, playing six UK dates.^[21] The 'Ta-Tah Tour' featured support from By the Sea, MiNNETONKA and Matt Maltese.^[22]

Yawn and Yawny Yawn (2018–2019)

Ryder-Jones released the album Yawn on 2 November 2018 and after this, Yawny Yawn on 26 July 2019. Yawny Yawn is an acoustic reworking of Yawn and features the same songs, just with different instrumentation. Both albums have been critically acclaimed^[23] and Ryder-Jones finished a tour of the Yawny Yawn album in November 2019.

Iechyd Da (2023–present)

On 19 September 2023, Ryder-Jones announced Iechyd Da, his first album in five years, which was released on 12 January 2024 on Domino. The album marked his first entry in the UK top 40 at number 30, as well as hitting number 3 or higher in the UK Record Store, Physical, Vinyl, Independent and Album Sales charts.^[24]

The album was produced by Ryder-Jones at his Yawn studio in West Kirby, England. Its title translates as "good health" in Welsh. Ryder-Jones stated that he has not been "this proud of a record since A Bad Wind Blows in My Heart" and called it his "most produced record".^[25]

Iechyd Da received a score of 90 out of 100 on review aggregator Metacritic based on eleven critics' reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".^[26] Mojo felt that the album "documents a period of intense anguish with careful understatement and smart musical references".^[27] Shaun Curran of Record Collector in their five star review called it "a truly wonderful record, one that embellishes Ryder-Jones' writing in ways both grand and unusual, without sacrificing any of the closeness – his lyrics remain raw and direct – or melodic knack". The Guardian's Dave Simpson described it as "overwhelmingly lovely, with classy hooks and rousing choruses" and remarked that Ryder-Jones's "closely mic-ed voice is fragile, delicate, even on the edge of croaky, giving the impression he's sharing intimacies directly with the listener".^[28] Reviewing the album for Uncut, Laura Barton, rating the album 9/10 found it to contain "songs marked by a remarkable closeness, by the intimacy of place and people" in "a world filled with colloquialisms and gentle wit, where we were all on first-name terms and the geography sat in our marrow."^[29]

It was promoted by a sold-out 20-date tour of Europe ^[30] with festival performances,^[31] a headline performance of the album in full at London's prestigious Barbican Centre Main Hall, ^[32] and a European tour supporting Beth Gibbons to follow.

Studio albums

Extended plays