Ra Ra Riot – Need Your Light
Label: Barsuk Records – bark160
Format: CD, Album
Country: US
Released: Feb 19, 2016
Genre: Rock, Pop
Style: Indie Pop, Indie Rock
1 Water
Music By, Lyrics By – Wesley Miles
Music By, Lyrics By, Producer, Mixed By, Drum Programming, Synth, Piano, Percussion, Engineer, Arranged By – Rostam Batmanglij
2 Absolutely
Engineer – Jerry Streeter
Lyrics By – Wesley Miles
Mixed By – Claudius Mittendorfer
Music By – Ra Ra Riot
Music By, Lyrics By – Dennis Herring
Producer, Engineer – Ryan Hadlock
3 Foreign Lovers
Engineer – Jerry Streeter
Mixed By – Claudius Mittendorfer
Music By, Lyrics By – Wesley Miles
Producer, Engineer – Ryan Hadlock
4 I Need Your Light
Music By, Lyrics By, Producer, Mixed By, Engineer, Drum Programming, Synth, Hihat, Bass, Guitar – Rostam Batmanglij
Tom Tom – Garrett Ray
5 Bad Times
Engineer – Jerry Streeter
Lyrics By – Wesley Miles
Mixed By – Claudius Mittendorfer
Music By – Dennis Herring, Ra Ra Riot
Producer, Engineer – Ryan Hadlock
6 Call Me Out
Engineer – Jerry Streeter
Lyrics By – Wesley Miles
Mixed By – Claudius Mittendorfer
Music By – Ra Ra Riot
Producer, Engineer – Ryan Hadlock
7 Instant Breakup
Engineer – Jerry Streeter
Lyrics By – Wesley Miles
Mixed By – Claudius Mittendorfer
Music By – Ra Ra Riot
Music By, Lyrics By – Dennis Herring
Producer, Engineer – Ryan Hadlock
8 Every Time I'm Ready To Hug
Engineer – Jerry Streeter, Ryan Hadlock
Lyrics By – Wesley Miles
Mixed By – Claudius Mittendorfer
Music By – Ra Ra Riot
Music By, Lyrics By – Dennis Herring
9 Bouncy Castle
Lyrics By – Wesley Miles
Mixed By – Claudius Mittendorfer
Music By – Gabriel Duquette, Ra Ra Riot
Producer, Engineer – Ryan Hadlock
10 Suckers
Engineer – Jerry Streeter
Lyrics By – Wesley Miles
Mixed By – Claudius Mittendorfer
Music By – Ra Ra Riot
Producer, Engineer – Ryan Hadlock
Licensed To – Barsuk Records
Engineered At – Bear Creek Studios
Mastered At – The Lodge, New York
Designed At – Silent Giants
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Ra Ra Riot
Copyright © – Ra Ra Riot
Glass Mastered At – CDA ImPressing Solutions, USA – 2855545
Bass Guitar – Mathieu Santos
Cello – Clarice Jensen (tracks: 2, 3, 5 to 10)
Design, Layout – Christopher Everhart
Drums – Kenneth Bernard (2)
Engineer [Additional] – Connor Hoffman (tracks: 2, 3, 5 to 10), Taylor Carroll
Guitar – Milo Bonacci
Management – Josh Roth
Mastered By – Emily Lazar
Mastered By [Assisted] – Chris Allgood
Photography By [Cover And Fold-Out] – Jared Chambers
Photography By [Inside] – Shervin Lainez
Violin – Rebecca Zeller
Vocals – Wes Miles*
Gatefold card sleeve with foldout lyric poster.
Barcode (Scanned): 655173116029
Personnel: Wes Miles (vocals); Milo Bonacci (guitar); Rebecca Zeller (violin); Mathieu Santos (bass guitar); Kenneth Bernard (drums). Recording information: Bear Creek Studios; Echo Park Backhouse Studios; Vox Studios. Photographer: Jared Chambers. Despite having begun life as an indie outfit featuring two string players, Syracuse's Ra Ra Riot transformed into a synth-heavy, dance-oriented ensemble after the departure of cellist Alexandra Lawn in 2010. Following up 2013's Beta Love, the group's fourth album, 2016's Need Your Light, finds the quartet of lead singer/keyboardist Wes Miles, violinist Rebecca Zeller, guitarist Milo Bonacci, and bassist Mathieu Santos building upon that synth pop sound with a buoyant, infectious batch of songs that better balances their love of analog keyboards with their orchestral roots. Produced by former Vampire Weekend guitarist Rostam Batmanglij, Need Your Light feels bigger, looser, and more organically robust than Beta Love. While there is a bright studio sheen to the album, many of the cuts, including "Foreign Lovers" and the driving U2-influenced title track, sound as if they could have been recorded live in one take. Furthermore, while tracks like "Bad Times," "Instant Breakup," and the proggy, Peter Gabriel-esque "Bouncy Castle" are built around buzzy '80s synths, kinetic beats, and driving, low-end basslines, there's just enough of Zeller's warm violin to keep things from ever getting too icy. Similarly, Miles, pushing his angelic, highly resonant voice to its limit here, has never sounded more aggressively enthused. Cuts like the driving "Call Me Out" and "Absolutely," though in no way slavish retro re-creations, do bring to mind the soaring arena power of bands like Journey, and wouldn't sound out of place on an '80s Jefferson Starship album. Ultimately, Need Your Light is an ambitious, thrilling album, full of songs that aim to grab your heart as well as your ears. ~ Matt Collar
- Media Condition: Mint (M)
- Sleeve Condition: Mint (M)
- Format Detail: CD Wallet
- Format: CD
- Genre: POP
- Handling Note: **Please allow an additional 72 hours for this item's shipment.**
- Released: 2/19/16
- Internal ID: JITRE
