New music: Ra Ra Riot
"Each Year" and "Too Too Too Fast"
The Ra Ra Riot love continues. Their album dropped two weeks ago, and it's awesome.
"The Rhum Line" will be familiar to longtime listeners, including as it does several tracks from the EP. The old tracks are tighter and more polished, and the new stuff is just as beautiful. In particular, "Winter '05" is a beautiful ode to the singer's faraway beloved. With a simple violin and viola (?) accompaniment, the singer's melodic lament ("If you were here, winter wouldn't pass quite so slow") takes center stage. In a neat touch, they use sleigh bells to keep the beat.
The Riot sound, for those of you not already in love, is sort of twee chamber pop ("Suspended in Gaffa" is an out and out waltz) with a backbeat and a dash of '80s. When they go wrong, it can be a little sterile and bland, but when they do it right, it's really sweet. And for the most part "The Rhum Line" does it right. This is music for shameless romantics (who get freaked out by too much bass).
—eh
