Ra Ra Riot grace the main stage of the Black Cat for the second time this year, Sunday evening. When they were last here, in March, opening for the Cribs, I was actually anticipating a glimpse at my not-so-secret crush, Kate Nash, rumored to be in attendance (she was-ed). I knew of Ra Ra Riot from their two 7” singles, and thought I’d pay attention while furtively glancing around the room. In particular, I was worried that they wouldn’t be able to reproduce the fragile beauty of my favorite song by them, “Each Year.” The combination of fragile vocals, a driving beat, and loads and loads of strings (violin and cello) make it one of my recent favorites, but sounded challenging to pull off in the sonically-challenging Cat.
Of course, their set was a stunning success – beautiful, energetic, emotional – everything I hoped the Arcade Fire would be, but somehow lovelier. I found myself moving along to the songs I was familiar with and standing, wide-eyed at the new songs, before finding myself moved by those, too. I ended up forgetting all about Kate and the Cribs, and a song into the headliners’ set, I found myself wandering off to the merch table to buy their self-titled EP and make my way for the door. I mused further on the Arcade Fire comparisons – the ‘Riot, too, have had to cope with a death in the family, namely their original drummer, John Pike in 2007. They vowed then to continue through that sadness, and I am glad for there perseverance.
They return to Washington, as a headliner, this time, on the back of their debut album. It’s an odd title, “The Rhumb Line,” released on Barsuk Records. The album contains a Kate Bush cover, “Suspended in Gaffa,” as well as a few of their previously-released songs, including the aforementioned “Each Year” (also appearing on their Fandango single and Ra Ra Riot EP, and remixed on the Dying is Fine single), the fantastic “Ghost Under Rocks” (also on the EP), “Dying is Fine,” (from the EP and titular single) and “Can You Tell” (EP). You’d still need to buy the V2 single to hear the “Each Year” remix, and the EP to hear “A Manner to Act” and “Everest.”
Support is provided by Walter Meego and the Morning Benders. See you there.
