Red Riders - Drown In Colour (2009)

By Ben Vernel

Back in early 2007, Red Riders put on one of the best live performances I have ever had the good fortune of witnessing.

It was an early show, the second in their "Replica Replica" tour, and it was the first time I had ever heard their music let alone seen them live.

I was impressed by both their musicianship and their music; it was a tight, skilled performance of quality songs.

I bought the album soon after and discovered, to my dismay, that it was nowhere near as good as I was hoping. Songs like My Love Is Stronger Than Your Love and A.S.P.I.R.I.N. retained the energy and polish of their live counterparts but everything else felt a little flat.

After repeated listens I came to appreciate songs like In My Sleep and What They Say About Us and grew to like the album overall.

What I am trying to say is - Red Riders are a band I respect.

They are able to both put on a damn good live show and craft an album with hooks as well as depth. They do, however, have weaknesses...

Some of the songs on their first album were painfully "filler".

It has been three years since "Replica Replica" was released. Here, now, is "Drown in Colour". And the big news is, well, their sound hasn't changed much - despite the departure of guitarist Adrian Deutsch.

First song Tomorrow / Today retains every little bit of the style developed on "Replica Replica" and is instantly recognisable as Red Riders.

Ordinary is a decidedly average song - not too bad but nothing amazing. A nice song.

Apparently, the first single will be third track You’ve Got A Lot Of Nerve. I am not sure this was a great choice. Again, like Ordinary, it just floats along without hitting any real nerves or stirring up any emotions in the listener.

In actual fact, the entire album feels this way.

Red Riders have cultivated a kind of detached, über-coolness and while this aesthetic proved beneficial by adding to the jumpy dynamism of "Replica Replica" it doesn’t work so well for "Drown In Colour".

Rather than the balanced previous album, "Drown In Colour" is a pretty, well produced, pleasant journey into apathy. The entire album is "filler". What I mean by that is that while the style is consistent with their better songs, too many tracks have no hooks, nothing catchy or interesting about them, and quite simply fall short.

"Drown In Colour" is a mellow album that might provide a good background to a late night rendezvous involving red wine and a bit of hipster-wooing, but lacks dynamic and exciting moments and therefore just doesn’t measure up to their excellent debut of 2006.

RATING: 2.5 out of 5

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