Rays – “Yesterday’s Faces”

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More excellent news from the Bay Area today, as Rays return with a news of an album this winter. The band’s previous album knocked down a lovable corridor of post-punk that was particularly jangle jostled, bringing to mind the curdled pop of The Soft Boys and the brash honesty of Television Personalities. They show no signs of dropping those jangles from their arsenal on the upcoming, You Can Get There From Here, employing the very same tactics that have thrown their South Hemi counterparts in Australia and New Zealand head over heels for the sonics of past, with a laconic lyrical view on the present. On the excellent first single, “Yesterday’s Faces” the band even touches down in OZ to pick at the shaggy licks of The Clean, then welds them to the urgency of Wake in the ’90s.

Allusions to other bands aside, it’s a crackling track that’s balancing the upbeat tangle of strings with a sighed sadness that sticks like a lump in the throat for days gone past. The keys buzz like bar-light neon and Stanley Martinez’ vocals are flecked with a detached disillusionment that gives the track its bite. The band’s debut showed promise and with this track they’re definitely making good on it. Gonna want to keep an ear out for this one when it lands in November.



Support the artist. Buy it HERE.

Check out the band on these West Coast dates.

8/30 – San Francisco: Hemlock Tavern w/ The Love-Birds and April Magazine
8/31 Los Angeles: @ the Rec Center with French Vanilla and Cat Scan
9/1 Oxnard: @ Alma Rose with Sea Lions
9/2 Oakland: @ the Whitehorse with Violent Change and Toner (Early – 6PM sharp!)

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