Taken from the group’s recently released third album, ‘Beta Love’ is the new single from baroque-pop New Yorkers, Ra Ra Riot.
Like much of Ra Ra Riot’s work, this track is upbeat and defiantly
positive. The single once again exhibits the band’s penchant for soft,
facile and fun indie pop, just as commercial and accessible as
contemporaries such as Vampire Weekend and The Vaccines.
Indeed, this lighted hearted track would ideal for lightheaded,
non-committal moments of summery ecstasy, drinking cider, dancing and
laughing with friends.
The single is however far more synth-lead than any of the band’s
previous efforts, drawing its sound nearer to the likes of Passion Pit
than their other indie-pop contemporaries. The strings take a backseat
with (perhaps due to the departure of cellist and founding member Alexandra Lawn),
but what is particular notable with ‘Beta Love’ is the lack of indie
guitar posturing so prevalent in the band’s previous work. With this
single, Ra Ra Riot draw away from the their pleasant and moderately
unusual indie/orchestral combination towards the incredibly usual synth
lead indie pop, with standard “diverse” instrumentation. This approach
would have sounded innovative in 2009, and sure, its sounds fine now and
is enjoyable enough, but the style of the track is not overtly inspired (unless your frame of reference is restricted to Top 40 chart
escapades).
‘Beta Love’ is available now to download, and the new album, similarly entitled Beta Love,
is available as a physical release and to download on Barsuk. Ra Ra
Riot are on the cusp of a US tour, but have no dates planned for the UK
at present.
See this at TGA at: http://www.thegirlsare.com/2013/03/28/review-ra-ra-riot/
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