Birthday Release For Loren Ryan’s Debut EP In Tamworth

Loren Ryan has officially unveiled her debut EP, Homecoming, with fitting plans to launch it in her stomping grounds of Tamworth.

READ MORE: The 5 Best Loren Ryan Songs, Ranked

The five-track effort will arrive on January 19, which is significant for being both Ryan’s birthday and the first day of the 2024 Tamworth Country Music Festival. In a press release, she explained that she called the EP Homecoming because she’d “been touring around so much” throughout 2023, with the songs on the record grounding her to her regional NSW roots nonetheless.

“To come home and launch my EP fills me with pride and excitement, for a good time with all the people I love,” she added. “It's my homecoming.”

The record itself will be launched at a special show on Wednesday January 24, which is set to be held at Moonshiners Honky Tonk Bar. Tickets for that gig are on sale now – find them here.

In addition to her acclaimed singles Bounce Back, Suddenly and Take Me Home, the EP features new songs My Favourite Summer and Human. It was produced by Gavin Carfoot (except Bounce Back, which was produced by Gareth Hudson), mixed by Jared Adlam and mastered by Paul Blakey, with a co-writing credit from Melanie Dyer on Suddenly. In her statement, Ryan gushed that she’s “so fortunate to be working with a great team”.

She added: “It's exciting to hear my music be taken to another level and the dedication from this team is outstanding... I've put deep thought and consideration into this body of work, I wanted it to flow like an album. I feel like each song is a little treat and speaks so much to the person I am.”

The EP kickstarts 2024 as another huge year for Ryan, who took the Australian country music scene by storm in 2023. January of this year saw her crowned the latest Toyota Star Maker, for example, and in July she was named one of the most significant Black female country artists active on the circuit.

In a January interview with Countrytown, Ryan noted the importance of celebrating Indigenous Australians in the music scene: “If you're the last to champion First Nations acts,” she said, “you're going to be old news. The time is now to make a difference – to be a mover and shaker for inclusivity.”

In another interview she gave us in October, Ryan teased the sonic palette of Homecoming: “Musically [the songs] include a lot of the things I love – I love country music, the songs are sounding quite pop [and] quite mainstream, but we’re adding elements of musical theatre. Breathtaking moments, moments that move you and prompt a lot feeling.”