Ra Ra Riot-The Rhumb Line

Despite the summer weather we have been enjoying lately, a quiet hour’s breeze whispers that the seasons are changing. If the xylophones and afro-drumming on your Vampire Weekend album begin to ring hollow, autumnal refuge can be found in Ra Ra Riot’s debut album, The Rhumb Line. The Syracuse-based band is equal parts VW and Arcade Fire, fusing the former’s pop sensibilities with the melodramatic mood swings of the latter. Rhumb Line falls in line with indie’s recent chamber pop trend—-the album begins with impatient cello strokes and violin plucks over a Joy Division-inspired drum line—-and it plays within the genre adeptly if somewhat cautiously.
Ra Ra Riot is linked to Providence by tragedy: drummer/songwriter John Pike was found dead after a concert here last summer. Yet the band has managed to move on successfully from this loss, largely on account of the strength of its component parts. Frontman Wes Miles impressively manipulates his intonation throughout the album, playfully riding the falsetto line while reserving the right to dip into a low tenor when it suits him. He may be at his warbling best in the band’s cover of Kate Bush’s “Suspended in Gaffa” (he even manages to channel a bit of Bowie, at one point as he sings "I'm scared of the changes" over mounting bass drum hits). The strings carry the load in most of the album’s best songs, leading the ear through a diverse landscape marked by harmony and dissonance, languor and exultation.
The elements are all in place for something great, but the band never quite puts them all together on Rhumb Line. The first single, “Dying Is Fine” (a nod to the e.e. cummings poem), is quite good, as are a number of the other early songs. But the album lacks a definitive coup de grace, and it unravels at the tail end with a couple of uninspired tracks. If you’re looking for new music, this is an album to try on for size. And keep an eye on Ra Ra Riot as they move beyond the death of Pike—-who wrote their stronger songs—-and continue to evolve. At the moment they appear to be a band that is more interesting in concert than on record. Fortunately for us, they are swinging through New York and Boston in mid-October.



4/5

-Samuel Allen