Ra Ra Riot - "Beta Love"

Artist: Ra Ra Riot

Album: Beta Love

Label: Barsuk

Release Date: January 22, 2013

Review by: Sean Kayden

       After the departure of cellist, Alexandra Lawn, Ra Ra Riot decided to change gears from baroque pop rockers to electro-pop advocators. Perhaps her choice to leave the band had to do something with the decision to go down a different path. Nonetheless, their third album titled “Beta Love” is the band’s first venture into the overcrowded playground of synthesizers. As the album progresses, it becomes abundantly clear this is the band’s new style of choice, one which they don’t necessarily pull off as well as their competition. However, the effort is a bold one given their fan-base and while I must praise the band for breaking out of their own bubble, it’s just now they’ve entered into a bubble ready to burst. “Beta Love” is a risky removal from the band’s initial style. Despite that, Ra Ra Riot may have experienced a mild artistic crisis as they were developing their latest album. Whatever the case may be, the hit or miss factor plays from track to track.

      “Dance With Me” kicks the album off in high gear. It’s an early indication of how the album will play out. It’s a fun track that will have you dancing in no time, but like with most songs found here, the emotional potency this band had on previous albums seems to be missing. It’s been traded in for frantic beats and modern technology. “Binary Mind” is a fine follow-up track. It has a great chorus and by far the most buoyant song off the relatively short album. Like the first track, it’s an amiable song, but everlasting it is not. My favorite track is the eponymous track, “Beta Love.” It’s sugary sweet with a killer falsetto to boot from frontman Wes Miles. The track is definitely slower than the previous two and while it is a synth-driven tune, it’s proof that Ra Ra Riot can pull off something great. The following track is “Is It Too Much.” This is one a slow electro-pop song that does try to mimic their previous sound, but with the added electronics. Strangely enough, it works and quite well. Sure the sound is moderately low beat and remains fairly consistent throughout, but with the inordinate vocals and beauty of it all makes for something surprisingly moving.

      Unfortunately, Ra Ra Riot goes into a strange land with “What I Do For U.” A dreadful song that lasts less than two minutes that has altered vocals, space-like beats and indiscernible lyrics at times. “When I Dream” is another stinker. While I can enjoy the slower side of Ra Ra Riot, this one just drags you down. Maybe it’s because Miles’ falsetto is nowhere to be found, but this doesn’t feel like a traditional Ra Ra Riot tune. However I guess after this album, there really isn’t anything traditional about this band any more. “That Much” is a considerable improvement over the last two tracks mentioned, but unlike the first half the album doesn’t come close to being praiseworthy. It’s yet another song lacks a certain pizzazz. With an abundant of samples thrown in the mix and an obnoxious background of the lyrics “that much” being played in fragments, it becomes more annoying than welcoming over time. There’s a saving grace in the final act with the closing track, “I Shut Off.” Ra Ra Riot gathers much needed momentum in the end with this blistering, bold, and wickedly catchy track. Miles’ vocals are ultra smooth, the arrangements impress and the song is easily the most vintage sounding song even with Ra Ra Riot’s newfound love of electronics.

     “Beta Love” whizzes by in a blink of an eye. Okay maybe in a really tired blink of an eye especially when those completely underwhelming, disposable songs play. At any rate, there are things to like here. You can have a little fun with “Dance With Me,” and “Beta Love,” and feel the gentler side of Ra Ra Riot with “Is It Too Much,” and “I Shut Off.” The problem is that while there are some decent songs, there are really only two or so really good tracks. The rest are rather uninspired and entirely unmemorable. Ra Ra Riot took a big swing, but came up short. The gamble they were hoping to win big with has left them breaking even. Perhaps even losing a little bit but hopefully coming away from it all with a new established outlook they can utilize next go around.

Grade: 6.8 out of 10 

Published by Mountain Views News on January 19th, 2013
http://mtnviewsnews.com/v07/htm/n03/p11.htm