Ryan Edward Kotler Drops "Loneliness Is Killing"

“Loneliness Is Killing,” the latest song from Ryan Edward Kotler, hit me with a familiar ache the first time I played it. There is something immediately evocative in its simplicity, just guitar, harmonica, and voice, but it is the emotional clarity that stuck with me. It felt like flipping through pages torn from an old notebook, the kind where every line has been lived in.

The Dylan comparison comes easy, and it is not just the harmonica. Kotler’s phrasing has that loose, conversational quality, but what I kept coming back to was how much it reminded me of early Bright Eyes. There is something in the tone, in the way the lyrics feel both cracked and carefully measured, that recalls Conor Oberst’s early work. It is raw but not ragged. Melodic but unpolished in a way that feels intentional.

The song does not try to do too much, and that restraint works in its favor. It revolves around timeless themes like heartache, solitude, and the kind of yearning that shows up late at night and overstays its welcome. But the way Kotler tells it feels unforced. There are a handful of lines that caught me off guard, moments where the songwriting does not just feel honest but exposed.

It is a tearjerker, but not in a sentimental or performative way. It feels personal in the sense that you recognize yourself in it. “Loneliness Is Killing” is not reinventing the singer songwriter wheel, but it does not need to. It knows where it stands and who it is speaking to. I heard it, and I believed it. That is more than enough.

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