The Pelican’s Perch

Ra Ra Riot - The Rhumb Line

Posted by Kevin
September 2, 2008

Yeah! That’s what comes to my mind every time I see the name Ra Ra Riot. Sure, there’s Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!, but I think Ra Ra Riot Yeah! sounds way better. But enough about their name, this album is incredible. You heard it right. Increíble! That’s Spanish for ya holmes.

Ra Ra Riot, a band I found out about in the latest Rolling Stones (I’m ashamed to even say that statement, since the dumb magazine also gave the Jonas Brothers four stars the same issue), and was really moved by the write up in there. Apparantely, their drummer had recently drowned in the ocean after a show in Massachusettes, and The Rhumb Line was the resulting album they wrote full of emotion, life and death themes, and all kinds of songs from heart.

The opener “Ghost Under Rocks” is perfect for showcasing their sound right off the bat. The song has them saying, hey, we can rock out and be epic all we want, but watch out for those breakdowns. We can slow things down in a second and let the strings do all the work. And what beautiful work the strings do throughout this album. Most of my favorite artists of the last five years or so are heavily based on orchestral elements and the use of strings in untraditional ways, and Ra Ra Riot truly shine in this category. I’d compare their string-work most to Arcade Fire, which would also lead to an inevitable comparison to Final Fantasy, since Owen Palette does most of Arcade Fire’s string arrangements.

“Each Year” follows the opener sounding very similar to The Clash’s “Lost in the Supermarket”, a song most my friends somehow didn’t know as I threw out the comparison to deaf ears. What can ya do? “St. Peter’s Day Festival” was the first song I finally pinned down who they sounded like. They’re basically The New Pornographers singing over Matt Pond PA string parts, with Owen Palette throwing his hand in for some of the more epic song’s string arrangements. I could probably go all day comparing Ra Ra Riot to other bands, but a band like this simply needs to be heard, not compared to anyone else.

“Winter ‘05″ is nothing but strings, singing, and a simple kick drum, but it’s easily one of the more beautiful songs on the album. “Dying is Fine” is another one of my favorites, and like the opener, is one of the so-called epic songs I described earlier, and the song I’d give the most Arcade Fire comparison to. That chorus is super catchy I tell ya.

The rest of the album just chugs along, one great song after another, but I’d give the nod to “Suspended in Gaffa” for best song of last half of this album. There’s even a little circus breakdown that had me smiling and thinking of Detektivbyran.

After “Run My Mouth” faded to a close the first time I listened to The Rhumb Line, I sat up on my bed and said, “Wow, that was a damn good album.” I was lying on my bed mainly because I was too distracted to do anything else honestly. So, I just lied there quietly as the album played and soaked it in until it was through. I wouldn’t normally go into any detail like that, but in this case, this detail does a good job of making my point. If you’re like me and love string use in your indie tunes, then Ra Ra Riot make music for you. It’s an emotional, musical journey inspired by their fallen friend and one I’ll be riding along for for quite some time.

Ra Ra Riot
The Rhumb Line
Perch Score: 9.599/10
RIYL: The New Pornographers meets Matt Pond PA’s string parts, Arcade Fire, Final Fantasy, The Futureheads, the use of strings in general