About Thorny

Thorny is the ambient music project of Vermont synthesist and bassist JD Ryan. Working from a deep palette of hardware synthesizers and processed bass guitar, he creates immersive, slowly evolving soundscapes — music that lives in the spaces between tension and stillness, shaped by the fog, silence, and shifting light of the Green Mountains.

His 2025 solo longform *A Long Dusk* was nominated for a Schallwelle Award for Best Ambient Album, and his album *Flood* — a reflection on the devastating 2023 Vermont floods — was praised by Seven Days as "a fascinating study in musical reaction to environmental stimuli." His discography also includes *See No Sky* (2023), his debut *Mostly Gray* (2022), and collaborative work with ambient guitarist Matt Borghi, including *Fragments of Distance* and *A Long Dusk: The Borghi Remixes*.

Thorny has become an active presence on the New England electronic and ambient music scene, with performances at the New England Synth Fest (Boston), Sound X Light X Movement (Somerville, MA), Sound in Air (Cambridge, MA), and Stage 33 Live SynthFest (Bellows Falls, VT). His live sets blend hardware synthesizers, processed fretless bass, and Ableton Live into long-form, evolving pieces.

His earliest musical roots were in bass guitar, playing rock, blues, jazz, and funk before a chance encounter with the Hearts of Space radio program opened the door to a different kind of music entirely. The discovery of artists like Brian Eno, Steve Roach, and Manuel Göttsching — particularly Ashra's *Blackouts* — planted the seed for what would eventually become Thorny: the realization that sound itself could be the composition.

JD lives in the Green Mountains of Vermont with his wife and dogs. When not making music, he can usually be found on a bike or cross-country skis. He is actively seeking performance opportunities, collaborations, and commissions.