Monahan – Criminals

Singer-songwriter Ryan Monahan conceived Monahan out of the ashes of two successful CT-based indie-rock outfits, Eschellon, and Shadowgraphs. And while previous groups focused on balls-to-the wall atmospherics, Monahan’s solo effort has chosen to forgo theatrics in favor of carefully thought out, studio-constructed soundscapes.

Monahan’s melancholy-tinged pop songs have garnered comparisons as wide as Roy Orbison, Andrew Bird, Beck, Jeff Buckley, Elvis Costello, and Travis.
In 2008, Monahan packed up his successes and failures and set his sights for small-town music Mecca - Athens, GA - to begin working on his solo debut,Stop Saying I.

In Nov of 2008, Monahan’s cinematic folk-composition, “The Sound That Never Dies”, appeared on the season finale of Lifetime’s Army Wives, to be followed in 2009 by Eschellon’s post-Beatles groove “I Know You’re Tired” appearing in the feature film Crossing Over (Harrison Ford, Sean Penn, Ashley Judd). In 2010, "I Know You're Tired" would make an encore appearance on Fox Network's Lie To Me.

"Stop Saying I" finally released in 2011 and is a unique and multi-layered dark jazz, alt-pop gem. Monahan notes that although Damon Albarn, Paul Simon, Arcade Fire and '80s Britpop are some of his top influences for the album, each song is purposefully distinct for the purpose of storytelling—ultimately sharing a tale of personal growth.