PRICE:
$16.00
IN STOCK
ARTIST
TITLE
Ride Slow
FORMAT
CD

LABEL
CATALOG #
UTR 031CD UTR 031CD
GENRE
RELEASE DATE
3/1/2010

"Using a wide palette of sound that successfully captures the intensity of their live performance, Gentle Friendly's debut album Ride Slow is an adventurous record, which surpasses the band's lo-fi origins and demonstrates an uplifting emotional range. Thematically a fatalist document, Ride Slow records snapshots of feeling, of conversation, which overlap and phase through different songs. While their self-acknowledged influences (Arthur Russell, Bruce Springsteen, Top 40 hip-hop) are detectable, this album showcases Gentle Friendly as a band who have found their own language, drawing on nostalgia and ritual in equal measure, whilst continuing the tradition of English eccentricity and popular song. Ride Slow works exceptionally well as a continuous piece of music, the band choosing to work with London producer Twins to mix the album through its rounds of echo drench and repetitive rapture. The record glides seamlessly between songs of euphoric warmth to broken stammering rhythms to crushing walls of atmosphere. Tracks like 'Real Fighters,' 'Sleng Teng' and 'Clean Breaker' burst with energy, careering along with thunderous intent, in stark contrast to the album's more reflective moments like the dreamy 'Lover's Rock' and the ambient wash and vocal cycling of 'R.I.P. Static.'"