Traveling to and from work via the New York City subway system is a painful experience, as millions of city residents will often describe. Those grinding out the work week will often pass musicians on subway platforms they’d rather pay to forget, but sometimes you’ll find a performer with such undeniable talent, you’ve got to abandon your commute and listen.

Heading home from a day at the Loudwire office, we descended deep into Union Square to catch the L train into Brooklyn. Coming down the stairs, we heard a familiar chord progression and the lyrics, “Keeping me from killing you.” It was “Orestes” by A Perfect Circle. Catching only the tail end of the Mer de Noms track, we soon came face to face with Ryan Albert, a local musician busking just to pay for life’s essentials.

“Hey dude, know any Tool?” we asked Ryan, who was baking in NYC’s thick underground humidity. Ryan gave us a confident nod, sat back in his chair and belted out, “Who are you to wave your finger? / You must have been out of your head.” For six-and-a-half minutes, Ryan Albert delivered a wildly imaginative version of “The Pot” filled with beautiful flourishes both vocally and from his keyboard piano. Thankfully, we were able to catch it all on film.

Currently, Ryan Steven Albert resides in Brooklyn and performs in a group called Lucy Adamas. He’s also planning to launch a technical metal project in the near future. Check out Ryan’s performance of “The Pot” above and show the dude some love!

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