“After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.” – Aldous Huxley
Life and its subsequent character-building experiences are all but inevitable. When presented with these inevitabilities, Robbie Ciganek chooses beauty. We all have a story to tell, and Ciganek has chosen to tell his through song.
Knack for Music
His musical career started with middle school band and piano lessons. Seemingly benign and perhaps relatable to some, for Robbie it was a calling. He started the “Robbie Ciganek Band” in junior college and also played in church for a while.
Ciganek found that he had a knack for music. But it was his knack for poetry that took his musical career to the next level. As time progressed, he found that processing life’s big emotions through a melody were an effective, and quite beautiful, outlet. He appreciated artists like John Mayer who were master storytellers and provided inspiration. He taught himself to play guitar and leaned into the emotion. “The end goal is always to feel the thing I am trying to convey – that’s when I know it’s done,” he says.
“Brother Ryan” is the name of Ciganek’s band, and when pressed about the origins of the name, Ciganek explained eloquently, the band is named after his brother, Ryan. Ryan is also a musician, living in the northwest.
Humble Beginnings
Robbie’s musical career started in Chicago where he self-produced, mixed and mastered with Kevin Rose. He is humble in his beginnings and says he sought to “surround [himself] with musicians that are a lot better than [him].”
He was visiting his wife’s family in Colorado when they fell in love with the area and decided to make it home. Ciganek works for a tech distribution company. When he is not songwriting and is a dad to his lovely 15-month-old daughter. Ellory is now his muse and a reminder of promises kept and that there can be beauty at the end of a struggle.
His goals, through music, are to reach people and create new sounds through well-crafted songs while being authentically and unapologetically themselves. His shows are family-friendly and contain some good, honest songwriting.
Until you are able to make it to their next show, you can experience Brother Ryan’s sound wherever music is streamed.
Facebook + Instagram: @BrotherRyanMusic