Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Ryan Argast (right) with his Marina City bandmates preparing for a show at Thalia Hall in Chicago

Season 25 begins Monday, Feb. 26, with the coaching quartet of John Legend, Reba McEntire, Chance the Rapper and Dan + Shay.

Here’s more about Ryan:

* He’s a 31-year-old songwriter from Chicago and frontman for the alternative rock band Marina City.

* And he’s been involved in the release of lots of music, both as a solo artist and with that band.

* Most recently, the focus has been on the band’s music. In fact, Marina City has released four singles in the past seven months – “Tanzanite” and stripped down versions of three previously released songs, “Better Weather,” “Keep Your Faith in Me” and “Oh Chicago.”

* On Instagram, Ryan shares that he wrote the lyrics for “Oh Chicago” as part of an English project — when he was just 15. The band first released the song in 2012.

* “I listen back and laugh at the memories that made this song, but am so amused how much I can relate to it now,” he writes. “I’m not entirely sure what the song really means but I know it was a very powerful stream of consciousness I needed to get out. I needed to vent and Oh Chicago allowed me to do that.” Check it out below.

* For Marina City, that’s just the most recent in a long line of releases that includes EPs in 2017 “Terminal” and 2020 (“The Crush”) and a full length album (“The Simulation”) in 2022.

* As for his solo music, Ryan released an EP called “Twice on Sundays” in 2022. It’s filled with songs he wrote during the pandemic, songs he considered “too personal for me to release under a band name and hide behind my bandmates.”

* They include the excellent “Empty Chair,” a song he wrote after a grandparent died. And “Vows,” a song he and his wife used for the first dance at their wedding.

* Speaking of which, Ryan and his wife Lyndsey are awaiting the birth of their first child.

* Learning of the pregnancy was one of the highlights of a 2023 that also included a Marina City East Coast Tour, a co-headlining show with Night Spice at Thalia Hall in Chicago, and Ryan’s efforts to make Nashville his home base.

Ryan on social media:
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