Ra Ra Riot

Nothing about this Syracuse-based band is particularly riotous; in fact, it uses classical instrumentation in its songwriting. What's more, those instruments never seem like a fashionable affectation. When you hear Ra Ra Riot's winsome, gently affecting pop songs, you get the feeling that everyone in the band was in on...

By Tom Murphy

November 8, 2011

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Nothing about this Syracuse-based band is particularly riotous; in fact, it uses classical instrumentation in its songwriting. What's more, those instruments never seem like a fashionable affectation. When you hear Ra Ra Riot's winsome, gently affecting pop songs, you get the feeling that everyone in the band was in on the act of creation and that they spent time learning to play and write together and developed their style as a group instead of being in a hurry to impress anyone else. Like most enduring projects, the sextet, currently touring in support of its Too Dramatic EP, has paid its dues plenty. This is one present-day Riot that won't involve rubber bullets.

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Tom Murphy is a writer, visual artist and musician from Aurora, Colorado. He was a prolific music writer for Westword and a documenter of the Denver music scene.

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