CSUMB alum Ryan Bisio returns from Denmark armed with a new album and fresh outlook.

In the Key: Local singer-songwriter Ryan Bisio played professional basketball in Copenhagen in 2007 and 2008, then returned a couple of years later as a coach.

CSUMB alum Ryan Bisio returns from Denmark armed with a new album and fresh outlook.

By Adam Joseph

Thursday, July 12, 2012

For some, change means a new hairstyle or rearranging living room furniture. But for local singer-songwriter Ryan Bisio, it meant packing up, moving to Copenhagen, Denmark and taking a job coaching basketball. 

“I needed a real change of scenery for my music,” Bisio says. “I felt like I was running out of fumes. It’s been very reinvigorating for everything, including my personal life. I really love it over there.” 

Bisio now considers himself primarily a professional basketball instructor – just one who happens to dedicate a lot of time to his music. 

“I’m doing more music over there than I was doing in [Monterey] so it’s working out great,” he says. 

Recalibrating the balance between music and other undertakings, meanwhile, is making him a better musician. 

“Those days around [former downtown landmark] Monterey Live I really took the music thing seriously, and I still do,” he says, “but there’s just more of a balance on the other side which enables it to thrive even more.” 

Monterey County gets its first taste of Bisio in over a year Saturday night at the Alternative Cafe, where he’ll celebrate the release of Harbor Longing, which he recorded over 14 months.  

The poppy “Resolution” is a sweet ballad that showcases Bisio’s tender alto voice alongside simple meandering guitar plucks and a looping drum machine. The minimalism of the tune gives it additional depth. That sensibility carries over to the more somber “My Departed,” where the singer-songwriter questions what could’ve been. 

Bisio doesn’t plan on moving back to the U.S. anytime soon; what he’s got going in Denmark is clicking too nicely. “My sound and image over there is almost considered kind of exotic,” he says. “A Californian in Scandinavia. People are really receptive in a way that could be taken for granted [in the U.S.].”  

RYAN BISIO and GWYNETH & MONKO perform at 8:30pm Saturday, July 14, at Alternative Cafe, 1230 Fremont Blvd., Seaside. $10. 583-0913, www.thealternativecafe.com