Ray Bally – Crisscrossing Boundaries

Ray Bally – Crisscrossing Boundaries – Album Review

It’s not often that you stumble across an album where the title track is only twenty-one seconds long!

So let’s see here…it’s been about…hmm…looks like around five years since we last featured Ray’s music on these pages of ours.  Time sure does fly, as they say.  We were checkin’ out a couple of singles in advance of their release back in 2019, about three years after we had glowing things to say about his EP called BodyMysterySplendor in 2016…that’s our personal history with the man more or less.  He’s kept busy in the meantime – lest we forget, not everything that every artist or band ever does ends up on our pages, and you’ll find by a quick look at Spotify that he released an album called Love Chant in 2022.  So there you have it…you’re all caught up…click those links and read the history should you feel so inclined.

As far as Crisscrossing Boundaries is concerned, you can visibly SEE the uniqueness of this record before you even push play.  It is extremely rare…in fact, this might be one of the only instances that I can personally recall, where you’ll find an album with more songs than a Weezer album, ends up being less time than a Weezer album in total length.  I don’t know that this is ever anyone’s goal to achieve, but congratulations to Ray nonetheless.  For real – we’ve got sixteen tracks on Crisscrossing Boundaries, and the longest cut you’ll find is a mere 2:26 in length!  The Dude himself from The Big Lebowski would point out that brevity, is indeed his thing, man.  It will undoubtedly take the majority of you longer to read this review than it will to enjoy Ray’s new record…so take that to heart y’all – if you’re willing to put up with all my blabbity blah about this or yakkity yak about that, you should really take the time to listen as well.

“Acceptance Precedes Understanding” could very well find some of you scratching your heads…it’s an interesting choice as an opening track/the gateway into listening to an album.  I think it’s one of those tunes that highlights the difference between what’s perfect, and what’s perfect for the moment itself.  As in…I don’t think that Ray was seeking to make a technically perfect song from start to finish, so much as one that represents the beginning of this chapter of his life as an artist – make sense?  What I love about a track like “Acceptance Precedes Understanding” is that for all its tiny character flaws & whatnot, or Ray tuning on the fly & such…I mean…it’s actually quite an engaging first impression that definitely gets us listening.  I love the ambient sound of the birds chirpin’ in behind the guitars, and what I’m assuming is a train rolling in by the end…you don’t hear many records start out like this one does, and that’s always a good thing in my opinion.  It’s hard to stand out in this whole crowded world filled with music, and a different approach than others choose to take can accomplish that if you play your cards the right way.  I feel like “Acceptance Precedes Understanding” genuinely piqued my curiosity, 100%.

You’ll crack into “What’s This For?” and wonder, are we going purely for vibes here?  I’d be the first to tell ya that I actually like what I’m hearing on this record quite a bit as it begins…but I’d also likely be the first to tell ya I’m quite often the exception, not the rule, when it comes to listening and how the masses hear music.  I appreciate things like a noticeable level of art in what I listen to, and tracks like “What’s This For?” certainly highlight how that’d be a benefit to checking out an album like this one.  If you’re looking for something to sing along to…I’m afraid ya might just have to keep on scrolling this time around – but if you’re the type that digs on discovering something different in the music you listen to, pull up a chair, cause Ray’s got something highly enticing for ya hear.  As you listen to him tune his way into “What’s This For?” and all the chimes chiming away…you begin to understand that the purpose of a record like this isn’t so much to create everyday listening so much as it is to create an actual experience that immerses you in art and a vision for what else sound can achieve when you hear it.  Call me crazy if you like, but I’m onboard with this so far!  I fully recognize there would be a time & a place for an album like this, yes…but by the same token, I very much appreciate that this ain’t just like every other record.

You gotta love it.  I played “Shards” for the first time, and as I finished off this fifteen second track, I was immediately subjected to two Spotify ads that were actually longer right afterwards.  Is that the unkindest cut of all or what folks?  Don’t get me started on paying for a Spotify subscription so that they can in turn pay artists and bands .00000001 of a cent per spin…we can have that conversation later I’m sure.  Anyhow – “Shards” is awesome!  I love it!  I think Ray introduces his voice on this record in a very cool way, and through words that remind us to have perspective.  Is the thing we once held in our hands the only way to perceive something as beautiful?  If it breaks – can it still be beautiful afterwards?  I tend to be one of those people that can see the beautiful within what’s perceived to be broken…so yeah…I quite enjoyed this fifteen second’s worth of idea.  It’s really a short Spoken Word poem at the heart of it all, but rest assured y’all, I could teach an entire philosophy class around this fragment of an idea…don’t tempt me, or I’ll keep us here ‘til next week talking about a track that’ll fly right by most of you listening.

Was I supposed to take a dose of Ayahuasca before listening to this record?  Is it too late, or can I still do that, or how does that work?  Cause I’d be into it, I can promise you that.  I freakin’ love tracks like “Eastern Moonrise” that have this combination of tribal-meets-spiritual sound to them.  In a way, it’s like you can almost imagine Ray way the heck out there in the desert somewhere, with an eight-track recording machine and an acoustic guitar, sitting on the edge of a cliff just trippin’ out and riffin’ away on whatever happens to come to him, and this is the album that came out of all that.  Again, I’m here for it!  “Eastern Moonrise” is a stellar example of the kind of creativity that I wish came my way more often than it does.  It’s unforced, it’s natural, it’s organic, and it’s still wildly appealing despite not being all that complex or involved…it’s like listening to someone noodle away on the guitar while the wolves and ghosts howl along with the wind…I mean…c’mon y’all…when was the last time you ended up listening to something like that?  You really won’t find much like Crisscrossing Boundaries out there, I guarantee ya.

The biggest criticisms of this record will all likely boil down to questioning whether or not we’re listening to complete ideas, or merely fragments of possibilities and potential for bigger ideas.  I don’t know how to make a bold case against that argument…I’m just tellin’ ya what the other side of the coin will probably point out.  Do I personally listen to a track like “Travel By Night” and feel like I got the full idea?  No!  Crisscrossing Boundaries as an album on the whole, perhaps…but each of these extremely short tracks on their own are more than likely to keep most listeners out there wondering where the heck the rest of the song is.  I ain’t superhuman…I still have the same kind of ears that you do.  “Travel By Night” is arguably one of the more involved songs you’ll find on this record, and there still ain’t a whole lot to it!  Do I enjoy it?  Heck yeah I do – you betcha.  If you’re the kind of audiophile that digs on production, texture, and tone…if you understand how that can play a role in what you hear, or you have a deeper appreciation of art & its relationship to music, I’m positive you’ll like this song & record as much as I do.

You will wonder how profound this album is intended to be though, and whether or not the material is hitting that particular mark.  Only Ray is really going to know the answer to that – we can only speculate.  I remember a long time ago, I had a teacher that asked me about a speech I wrote for his class, and whether or not that speech was actually for everyone listening, or for myself on a personal level.  I told him it was for me, and he promptly told me that wasn’t the assignment.  I’d still argue that it was, or that it could at the very least, be both things…he didn’t see it that way.  Ray’s going to have to reckon with that concept slightly when it comes to this set-list I’d say.  Did he make these songs for everyone out there, really?  Or is what we’re hearing a form of catharsis, self-healing, and art that is much more personal?  Because I know it’s going to be tough, if not outright impossible, to realistically sell people on tracks like “Desert Caravan” – the average everyday listener out there just ain’t gonna ‘get it,’ and that’s equally true of this entire record…so the question is, was it ever really meant for them at all?  Does it need to be?  Is that important to Ray?  Again – these are questions that only he will know the answer to.  Like I said, I’m the exception, but not the rule – I’d listen to “Desert Caravan” all damn day without issue.

Where I think an album like Crisscrossing Boundaries might get itself into trouble is that it could truly benefit from having more of Ray’s actual voice included, as opposed to just the voice of the music itself, you know what I mean?  As we trip on into “The Baron Hotel,” I felt like that was what I was missing the most in the front half of the album…that “Shards” was not quite enough, because this dude has a lot of insightful stuff to say, and though I suspect he believes he’s still saying that through the music & sound we hear, I’d still maintain you’d have to be some kind of savant to really follow along with him in that regard.  This is where you could make a very compelling argument that a track like “The Baron Hotel” could easily become the kind of Spoken Word art that someone like Tom Waits would thrive within – and I have all the confidence in the world that Ray would be capable of that.  On its own though, I dunno – I gotta question this just as objectively as I would with anything else and wonder if there’s going to be enough here to keep the people listening…and I’m honestly not at all sure about that being the case.  He’s got a whole collection of musical “Shards” here…tracks that most artists and bands would consider to be introductions before the main course or a full song.  Objectively speaking, that’s risky as risky gets.

Ultimately, this whole endeavor would have made Sian Austin, to whom this album is dedicated, smile.  What’s amazing about an artist like Sian that has clearly made such an extraordinary impact on Ray that he ended up making a record like this, is that it’s actually way tougher to look up what Austin did online than you might think.  You get the impression that Sian was the type of artist that made their impact by personal experience more than anything else, and has quickly become mythical post-mortem.  You will likely encounter more tributary acts and songs and ideas and inspirations than you will be able to find stuff from Austin at your fingertips or on the ol’ Google machines…and honestly, how cool is that?  It is obviously heartbreaking to lose someone so early (Sian lived from 1987 to 2023) in the physical sense, but with so many continuing to choose to remember the legacy that was left behind, that’s a spirit that will never die.  Read about what the band GROOMING had to say about Sian by clicking here, and it’ll help give you a small glimpse and understanding of what made Ray create a record like this in the way that he chose to.  Then go and make your own tracks like “Down The Dirt Road” and damn the torpedoes!  Life is all about living it the way that YOU want to in this one tangible experience you know of…so honestly, fuck what anyone else has to say about how you’re doin’ that…if you’re doing what makes YOU happy, then there is precious little I can think of that would ever matter more than that could.  “Down The Dirt Road” was a great song to sit here and ponder all of the ways that an artist like Sian has clearly affected Ray’s own art, especially in the context of this album.  As I so often like to point out on these pages of ours…art inspires art…it always has & it always will.  Embrace the madness, and love every minute of it.

Does understanding the context or the inspirations behind an album make it any more accessible or easy to enjoy?  Perhaps for some…but not likely for all.  Again, refer to the previous paragraph and remember that none of that matters – DO IT ANYWAY.  You will be better off doing what you love in the way that you would do it, regardless of what anyone else will ever think.  “Tune After Bern Nix” is another track that helped me zone out a bit and dial into what Crisscrossing Boundaries had to offer my mental state with a bit more clarity…there’s something very hypnotic and captivating about this set of songs that transcends past having to contain some kind of typical structure or style to hang onto.  To listen to this album is to essentially let go of what you think you know, and embrace the art with your ears alone.  As I’ve stated from the beginning, this album is an experience much more than it could ever be considered to be everyday listening…but just because that’s the case doesn’t make its contribution any less valid – are you following me?  Albums like this truly enrich our lives so much more than we realize at the time.  Crisscrossing Boundaries is the kind of record you’ll remember for years and years, even if you can’t recall a single song later on…because you’ll remember what it was like to experience.

Will the actual title-track “Crisscrossing Boundaries” help clarify what this album is really all about?  Not likely!  I mean…it’s completely fair to say that you can imply much of what it’s about to a degree, but that also implies most folks are really going to consider Ray’s words and what they might mean, all inside of a short twenty-one seconds.  My personal experience and freakin’ gut tells me that most folks won’t even bat an eye and they’ll be onto the next track without really considering what’s being said, but that’s the risk you take in making cuts so short and music with art as the priority.  Again, if we’re talking about Sian Austin as the inspiration for this album, all Ray has done is right by the example set.  We’re not meant to make art and stand around marveling at what we’ve accomplished so much as we are meant to continue on and continue forward doing what we do because we love doing it – nothing more.  These Spotify ads gotta stop interrupting this experience…but the irony of that they don’t isn’t lost on me either…commercialism dominates art with its irreverent brutality and ignorant indifference.

I really loved the little laugh you hear at the start of “Dusky Boy” and hearing Ray restart the song over again, like any of us would have known the difference if he did or didn’t get it right according to his own objective.  It’s actually quite an amazing inclusion when you think about it in that kind of context – he could have easily left that out, but chose to include it because it ends up reinforcing the point even more.  It IS complete with its ‘mistake’ at the beginning – and it would have been incomplete without it.  It’s as if to say there are truly no ‘mistakes’ at all…I suspect that’s what Ray is really getting at by keeping that included in “Dusky Boy.”  To listen to Crisscrossing Boundaries is to educate yourself in philosophy y’all…don’t get me wrong, I fully understand that’s not what a lot of you push play on your music for, and I’m ultimately just as sure that Ray understands that every bit as much as I do…but for those of you out there that ARE looking for more meaning within what you listen to, this man has got you covered.

“Long Past Discouraged” – LOL!  Ray…you’re an artist my man – join the club!  There’s not a day that goes by where I’m not feeling that way in some regard, and I suspect that’ll always be the case.  If we’re again to draw on the example set by someone like Sian Austin, then we have to recognize that the only reason we feel that way at all, is simply because we’re judging ourselves by the same kind of metrics and constraints that others would.  If we’re immersed in the art or our craft and doing what we truly love to do, then you should only be encouraged to keep going, right?  Believe me when I tell ya, if I was to only keep at what I’ve been doing for the past twelve years because people are actually reading all these things that I write, I would have walked away from it all inside of the very first year.  Same goes for any of the music I ever made…nobody listened, nobody cared – but to be truthful with ya, neither did I!  I simply made more, because it was fun, interesting, and fulfilling to ME & it was an important part of the experience I was having on this floating rock we all call home.  When anything stops mattering to me, that’s when I lose interest & stop what I was doing & rightly so…I would only want the same for anyone.  So to be “Long Past Discouraged,” if I’m reading the tea leaves correctly, doesn’t really have to be a bad thing at all…in fact, it can lead to the kind of mental breakthroughs you need to get to in order to keep on doing what you really love to do.  Once you realize that not much matters at all, you end up “Long Past Discouraged” and discover a newfound freedom that allows you to do whatever your heart desires.

You gotta love tracks like “Picasso’s Musketeers” that are built on chords that equally invoke mystery and melancholy as one…you feel emotions when you listen to music made with these notes and tones, and good lord, ain’t that a great thing no matter what it is that a song like this conjures up in ya?  I spend about half my time wondering if anything is ever real at all, so believe me, it’s finding tracks like this one here that tend to keep me grounded…songs like “Picasso’s Musketeers” remind me that if I can feel something…anything at all…there’s at least a puncher’s chance that I’m actually still alive.  Alright, it’s been a weird…umm…forty-four years of existentialism here, but I’m sure that’ll all wrap up sooner than later…I mean, how much longer can it really go on for anyway?  I confront my mortality on a daily basis and I’m guaranteed to die mid-sentence…it’s okay folks, I’m at peace with it…at least most of the time.  Anyhow.  “Picasso’s Musketeers” would be right up there with my favorite tracks on this particular album, and I’d argue it’s probably one of the more accessible tracks on Crisscrossing Boundaries for the rest of you too.  At the very least, I think it’s arguably one of the most cogently complete tracks you’ll find…so for those of you looking for something a bit easier to grasp onto, a bit more tangible in terms of its structure, length, and sound…I’d imagine “Picasso’s Musketeers” will supply you with what you need.

“Evening In Malaga” is indeed, a track upon this album!  Enjoy!  No further notes to be shared here.

“Psalm 103 16” is great.  It’s only half the length of “Evening In Malaga,” but it’s essentially spelling out so much of what we’ve been talking about here in the context of how a record like this gets made, and why.  Think of it like one of those amazing pieces of sand art that you see, that only exist for as long as the tide is out, only to be wiped away as soon as it comes in.  Obviously, the making of a record and posting of it on the internet changes that scenario a little bit, but it’s relative…that’s really what Ray is going for with Crisscrossing Boundaries as far as I can tell.  He’s put his art and truth out there bare-assed into the world, and now he can move on to whatever comes next without a second thought about what has transpired through these sixteen tracks.  At least that’s the theory.  I don’t really know too many people that create stuff and have the true capability of really letting go of it, but I suppose time will tell.

Did Ray really know Sian?  Did Ray only know of Sian?  Do any of us really know anyone else?  Oh I tell ya…these wheels of mine never really stop turning now do they?  Ray finishes off this album with one last acknowledgement/tributary track to the person that inspired it all, on “Hey Sian.”  I’ll put it to ya this way…”Hey Sian” is about as good of a choice to end the album as any track could have been I guess – I don’t think there could have been a ‘mistake’ in that regard if I’m being honest with ya.  I enjoyed it though, that much I can tell ya…but I feel like the same could be said for my experience with this entire lineup of songs.  There’s something about the aura of Crisscrossing Boundaries that authentically feels like it’s an important record in this history of our shared humanity…and hopefully, you’ll feel the same way when you have a listen for yourself.  You get this whole feeling like you’re listening to something that’s bigger than all of us, even though it’s presented through a lineup of extremely humble songs that have very minimal ingredients.  There’s a wisdom that exists within these notes, tones, and skeletal poetry – and I sincerely hope that you take a moment or two (okay, 24:07) of your time to check this out in full.

Find out more about Ray Bally from his official website at:  https://www.raybally.com

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