Rival Boys’ Life Of Worry EP Brings Strong Songs For The Sad And Lonely
Posted April 14, 2009 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
There are many songs, especially these days.
Most are mediocre at best, though that’s not a snipe at the folks who write them since penning – never mind recording – a good one is difficult to say the least.
Which is precisely what makes little-known Toronto trio Rival Boys debut EP so interesting: its songs are downright excellent.
The five tracks on Life Of Worry mark the city’s first real introduction to the young group – which consists of brother-sister tandem Graeme (pictured top, right) and Lee Rose on guitar and bass and Sam Sholdice drumming.
The tracks are sweet, sad, melodramatic and melancholy in a way that conjures say, Hayden writing a record for the male-female harmonies of the New Pornographers.
Rival Boys backstage at Lee’s Palace
“I don’t really write throwaway songs anymore,” Graeme says after a Lee’s Palace set on the eve of Good Friday.
“I look back on the early stuff I did and I can’t believe it. The stuff we write now takes more time – I just don’t want to be embarrassed by it in 10 years.”
The EP leaves little reason to assume that will be the case. The Roses’ melody making aside – the group has one rather valuable constant: originality.
Familiar sounding perhaps, but watching the quiet, introspective threesome on and off stage it’s difficult to conjure another contemporary group of their age and experience with a similarly refined sound.
Rival Boys during a December 2008 show at The Rearview Mirror, Kensington Market
“It’s true, I think about that a lot,” Graeme says on a night his band is followed by a jock rock foursome that sounds something like Nickelback. “We’re not dance or heavy at all and at the same time, there’s a real indie sound right now and we don’t fit into that either.”
Maybe it means Rival Boys will have trouble finding a bill with like-minded artists in the short term, but a probable string of spring dates starting in May and June will go a long way towards them finding out for sure.
Because there’s no form of advertisement better than word of mouth and while they stand out on Bloor in front of Lee’s more than one person approaches and heaps on praise, including a complete stranger-turned fan insisting they should’ve been given the next band’s slot as well.
The group humbly absorbs the compliment, some merely nod. But what’s clear is that even in a spacious, empty (on this night) venue like Lee’s which the band admits was it highest (stage-wise) and most echo-y performance to date, the quality comes through.
Of course there’s always room for improvement.
Three of the tracks on Life Of Worry – the heart-wrenching “Construction Work”, soaringly sad “Good Man” and the title track, bear shuffling A-to-D guitar lines that do seem to step on each other’s toes a little.
So right now the impression is that Rival Boys does one thing really well. The success of any forthcoming albums and ultimately, the band as whole, will be its ability to do one thing great and a few others pretty darn good.
Still it doesn’t seem impossible that the group could spread its wings wide on a lengthier release, in part because the other two tracks – “Sober and Single” and “Lonely Heart” – take things in different directions.
That a couple of the songs are also older and by that logic, possibly from a ‘throwaway’ time when the band wasn’t at its songwriting best, also buys it a pass and leads one to believe any concern over looking back in embarrassment is probably unfounded.
Then again they’re already committed to a life of worry.
People on the street loving their songs might be the best that Rival Boys can hope for.
—
Life Of Worry was recorded at Toronto’s Sleepytown Sound .
More Music:
Japanther Highlights Brooklyn Bash At Wrongbar
Anvil Prove Their ‘Metal’ In Gutsy Documentary About Following Dreams
Folk Pop Faves Great Lake Swimmers Navigate Thousand Islands Waters On New Disc
