Ryan Beatty - Sweet Fortune

Ryan Beatty has always written about love like he is turning it over in his hands, and Sweet Fortune, his fourth album, catches it in its first dizzy rush.

Pressed here in a gatefold jacket with a poster, the record follows 2023's Calico and a stretch of high-profile songwriting that included co-writing for Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter. Back on his own work, Beatty co-produced it with longtime studio partner Ethan Gruska, and the pair have nudged his sound somewhere warmer and more grown-up, with a quiet Americana tint and a nostalgic, seventies singer-songwriter glow.

Lead single "Secret Language" sets the tone with twanging guitars, an easygoing vocal and a gentle groove that sneaks up on you. The title track leans into the album's central idea, the giddy, overwhelming early days of romance, while "White Lightning" and "Delancey" round out a set of warm, atmospheric vignettes. Across ten songs it stays intimate and unhurried, the kind of record that rewards close listening rather than demanding it.

Beatty has never been one for grand gestures, and that restraint is exactly what makes these songs land. They feel like letters written to one person and somehow overheard by everyone.

Put it on late and let it work its slow magic.