Ryan Farish: "I’m grateful to be here, and to be able to pursue my life’s passion"

Ryan Farish is an award-winning DJ, producer, composer and multi-instrumentalist whose distinctive sound blends downtempo, ambient, chillout and uplifting trance. With over 270 million streams, his music has reached a worldwide audience while remaining deeply personal and unmistakable.

Originally from Norfolk, Virginia, Farish built his early following through the MP3 era before earning a GRAMMY® nomination, a Dove Award, and launching his own label, RYTONE Entertainment. His career has seen collaborations and partnerships with major names including Yamaha, Audi and Bang & Olufsen, as well as releases on renowned label Black Hole Recordings.

Supported by leading artists and radio shows across the electronic music scene, Farish continues to create immersive, emotionally driven music that transcends traditional genre boundaries.

"Wild As the Wind" feels like a title that speaks to freedom, movement, and emotion. What was the initial idea or feeling that inspired the track, and how did that idea evolve during the production process?

When I'm creating, it rarely feels like I'm making something. More like I'm receiving it. For me, it feels as if the melody's already there, I'm just the one who happens to catch it.

That's exactly how it was with my new album, "Wild As the Wind."

That's what inspiration feels like to me. Like the wind. You can't hold it. You can't see it, not really. But you can feel it move through you.

Your music has always existed somewhere between ambient, downtempo, chillout and uplifting trance. With "Wild As the Wind", did you find yourself exploring a new side of that signature sound?

 I’ve always loved making the music that I want to listen to myself. If the melody takes me in a more ambient direction, or dance, my goal is to serve the melody, the song, the best way I can. I approach making music as more of being a steward of an idea, I try to not let myself get in the way, and more follow where the song feels like it wants to go.

You’ve built an incredible career across electronic music, composition, and multi-instrumental performance. After more than two decades of making music, what still excites or surprises you when you enter the studio?

The idea that with recorded music, a melody, and everything felt behind it, can be captured... and felt again. And again. Maybe forever, as long as it's there to be found. I love the process of starting the day with a blank canvas, and at the end of the day there’s something in the world that wasn’t there before. That’s a magical feeling to me. It excites me every day. The pursuit of constantly discovering new sounds, directions, and the ways that sound can create places that I want to go to, to be, and to be able to share those places with others. I am grateful to be here, and to be able to pursue my life’s passion of creating and producing music. 

Your music has reached hundreds of millions of listeners around the world. How has having such a global audience influenced the way you think about emotion and storytelling in your music?

I still approach making music the way I always have. When a song, a melody, or the idea for a new song first appears to me, that’s the first gift of the music. My goal is to serve that idea, that moment of inspiration,  in the best way that I can. I try not to think about where this song will go after it leaves my hands, because I have been doing this long enough to know that once the music leaves my hands, it often takes on a life of its own, it finds the people it was meant to find, and arrives at where it was meant to be. 

You’re currently making a major move from Virginia to Los Angeles. Do you feel this new chapter is already influencing your creativity, and could it shape the direction of the music you’ll release next?

For years, I have spent time in both Virginia and Los Angeles making my music. The next chapter takes us to Nashville, TN. Wherever I go, I always find that my music becomes influenced by the land, the people, and the new experiences.

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