Ra Ra Riot - 'The Rhumb Line' (V2) Released 29/09/08

With alleged rollicking performances at 07's and 08's SXSW, Ra Ra Riot's 'The Rhumb Line' comes hotly anticipated by a band touted by Jacknife Lee and who already have support slots for The Editors and Tokyo Police Club under their belts. But then, haven't we heard this somewhere before. Hailing from Syracuse, New York, and revolving around the falsetto vocal lead of Wes Smiles, with Mathieu Santos on bass, Milo Bonacci on guitar, Alexandra Lawn on cello, and Rebecca Zeller on violin, Ra Ra Riot parlay a similar college indie-pop vein that Vampire Weekend greeted 08 with. Ra Ra Riot, however, take the lovelorn and bleeding young hearts' pleas to task and make a passionate cause celebre of it, adding delicious strings to embellish the chamber-pop in the manner of Woodpigeon, Young Republic and My Latest Novel.

With a ghostly presence in the tragic death of their original drummer John Ryan Pike in summer '07, Ra Ra Riot celebrate the memory with unfettered tunes 'Ghosts Under Rocks' and 'Dying Is Fine', the former chugging with bass lines and a euphoric pop gleefulness as soaking wet dreams are spoken of in a tumbledown of chords, strings and chorus, and the latter single replete with stirring indie-dancefloor hooks even if it does sound a bit Dexy's, altogether now - "...you know dying is fine but maybe...". 'Too Too Too Fast' will sate a hankering for a some shimmying turbo-indie-pop with the rush on beanz-on-toast as 80's synths willow to a breakdown of guitar and strings - kind of like The Undertones on lollipops, while shades of The Cure peep from behind the coy curtains of the mild 'Each Year'.

The pop by the barrel-load of 'St. Peter's Day Festival' shares the same diction and music class teacher of Vampire Weekend, while 'Run My Mouth' and 'Oh, La' follow the template, the latter with bubbly strings and the plea from Smiles - "..oh la, we have got to learn from each other/ we have got to stick together...", as 'Suspended In Gaffa' has the drum crash breaking up the smooth sheen of song. Strings feature to prominence as 'Winter '05' sidles with My Latest Novel for a romantic longing with baroque leanings adding a particularly English country air as Wes Smiles falsetto climbs a tree for effect, singing "...for I digress/ for if you were here...", and 'Can You Tell' has an earnest young gentlemanly demeanor as Smiles sings with no hint of a Lothario, "...my bed's too big for just me...I get nervous every time we speak...".

We'll be hearing these guys as their tunes pepper ad execs dreams, but what's all the candy coating to the sweetness. 'The Rhumb Line' is so well mannered and polite that most parents will be pleased at their progeny's proclivities. It's a fine line between gangsta rap and preppie indie-pop - maybe as little as one bad woman. I'll await Wes Smiles bitter and rankled output.