The Rhumb Line

Obviously it isn’t hard to have a good day during those cheery summer months, but it’s mid-winter and warm mornings are impossibly out of reach. Instead I have to wake up and somehow motivate myself to bring my car to life and scrape ice off the windshield. I can’t even play the music I want because my car stereo gets so stupidly cold that the only thing it’ll play is the radio. And the nine o’clock news rarely causes me to turn up the volume and rock out. Rarely.
But despite the frigid air, when the sun is high and bright I’ve found myself rolling down my car window (with the heat on, mind you) and blasting some Ra Ra Riot, an excellent band that’s finally getting some well-deserved attention. With the upbeat melodies of Vampire Weekend and harmonic arrangements reminiscent of The Shins, the band’s great debut album The Rhumb Line has that optimistic vibe that’s imperative to our February-dampened souls. Although the band has somewhat of a grim past (their original drummer tragically drowned), they bring joy—but little originality—to each track. With tinges of cello and violin in the background, “Ghost Under Rocks” is a great, fast-paced opening tune, and I highly recommend the catchy “Can You Tell,” a song I’ve had on repeat since Tuesday.
But I can’t help thinking of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah during the indie rock cover of Kate Bush’s “Suspended in Gaffa,” and “Winter ‘05” sounds like a song Badly Drawn Boy already wrote, so there’s nothing eye-popping to this album on its surface. Instead, think of it like the best mix CD (complete with the 80s synth-licked “Too Too Too Fast”) your hip, with-the-times friend burned for you. Even with its imitative themes, you’ll no doubt enjoy listening to Ra Ra Riot’s successful attempts at making you feel like it’s summer and everything is falling into place.

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