Rays
Introducing Oakland, CA’s Rays; comprised of four Bay-area music veterans; Stanley Martinez, Eva Hannan, Troy Hewitt & Alexa Pantalone whose current & past musical projects include local bands-of-note like The World, Life Stinks, Violent Change, & Dadfag. With their self-titled debut album out Friday 31st March 2017 via Trouble In Mind Records, take a mental note.
On the album the band spins eleven tunes of wiry, urgent post-punk, one foot planted firmly in the nihilistic apathy of 70 & 80’s punk (ie. Electric Eels, Eno), Australian punk past & present ( such as UV Race, Babeez), and the addictive strum of 80’s & 90’s New Zealand/Flying Nun pop; all of whom have found their own way to meld the ferocity & thuggery of punk with a singular melodic voice. They strive to emulate and transcend.
Songs such as the swirling jangle of ‘Attic’, which starts the album off, sardonically extol the joy of ‘attic life’ with Hannan’s monotone conveying an underlying sense of dread & isolation. ‘Dead Man’s Curve’, with it’s hook-filled, organ-laden chorus plays like a lost teenage tragedy song, celebrating the desperation & angst of reckless youth. Elsewhere, tunes like ‘Theatre of Lunacy’, ‘Made of Shadows’ & ‘Drop Dead’ rage with a desperate fire, speaking to the absurdities of everyday life, but with a wry smile.
Throughout it all, Rays’ debut never feels angry. Recorded by Bay-area stalwart Kelley Stoltz & mastered by Australian tone-genius Mikey Young (Total Control/ Eddy Current Suppression Ring), Rays is a joyous album packed with weird new-wave swirls and sugar-sticky hooks. See what you think, by taking a listen to ‘Drop Dead’ below.
Rays tracklisting:
1. Attic
2. Dead Man’s Curve
3. Lost In A Cage
4. Back Downtown
5. Gambler
6. Drop Dead
7. Pain and Sorrow
8. Theatre of Lunacy
9. Made of Shadows
10. Model or You
11. Over and Over
Rays
