RAYS – You Can Get There From Here (2018) – LITTLE LOST CLASSICS

It comes from Oakland, California, my favorite record ever in the last week. You can get there from here is the second album by the former quintet, now the RAYS sextet, which was born in 2015 as ‘another lo-fi punk/post-punk band’ from the local scene and in this vein released their eponymous debut in 2017, but which from the beginning keyboardist Britta Leijonflycht – who joined them during the promotion tour of the aforementioned debut – gave a turn in their sound and so here we are.

That turn wasn’t so radical, like Radiohead at the turn of the century, but we can say that there was a change in RAYS’ musical references, from rawness Velvet/Flying Nun to something closer to Television Personalities, Pastels, Dolly Mixture and other favorite eighties indie DIY fans around here. Almost as if they sped up the influences tape a few years later.

I discovered the group by chance a few weeks ago while I was researching something about Pastels, in my view the biggest inspiration in the 12 songs that compose You can get there from here (attention to Stanley Martinez’s vocals), and it was obviously love at first listen. It won’t change your life, but it might also become your favorite album of the last week hahaha.

Listen on the stalk!