Ra Ra Riot, Walter Meego preview

Ra Ra Riot, Walter Meego
Subterranean, Chicago
Thursday, September 11, 2008

For up-and-comers, releasing a kudos-laden EP prior to the debut of a full-length effort amasses a staggering amount of expectation on behalf of the critics who created the hype and the fans that got caught up in it. Sometimes the end result is deemed a failure (see Black Kids) and the early promise declared obsolete. For the Syracuse, New York quintet Ra Ra Riot, however, the trajectory between the group’s 2007 self-titled EP and its new release, The Rhumb Line (Barsuk), remains effervescently stable.

Laden with lustful string work by Alexandra Lawn on cello and Rebecca Zeller on violin, The Rhumb Line bears the ghost of John Pike. Half of the album’s tracks feature lyrics written by the band’s original drummer, whose accidental drowning in June 2007 casted an unintended pall over the proceedings. “Dying Is Fine” incorporates bits of e.e. cummings’ “dying is fine) but Death” into the song’s jumpy chorus while “Ghost Under Rocks” leaves behind a glistening vapor trail.

Ra Ra Riot share a similar university-cultivated immediacy with Gotham’s other fresh-faced purveyors of hype, Vampire Weekend. Instead of studying up on Paul Simon’s solo work, the band creates a mood more akin to the period films in danger of typecasting Keira Knightley – that is if Jane Austen wore black fishnets under her bloomers.

— Janine Schaults

There are hints of arena dance rock a la Justice on Walter Meego’s full-length debut, but thank Christ that’s where the similarities end. If the Chicago-based duo had been French kissed, it was by a pair of Air albums, Moon Safari and Pocket Symphony. Voyager (Almost Gold) outstrips both as far as pacing, but wisely goes for songs over effect. Nothing like a broken heart to ground you, but even as Justin Sconza and Colin Yarck mope they leave a trail of scintillating sparks. And in 20 years, when the electro dorks find their American Apparel and “D.A.N.C.E.” single in the garage, they’ll have to clear some room on their digi-music ear implants – ‘cuz Walter Meego will still be on there.

Pepi Ginsberg opens.

— Steve Forstneger

Click here to download Ra Ra Riot’s “Dying Is Fine.”

Category: Stage Buzz, Weekly