riding shotgun - RGB EP

Riding Shotgun

RGB EP
self-released; 2013

3.7 out of 5

By Demiera Harris

RGB EP is described as having groove and jam elements, and let me be the first to say that is an entirely accurate description. Riding Shotgun has found a real niche with their music, which is fun but smooth, jazzy yet rocking all at the same time.

“Born On Legs” has a real buttery groove. Each part has a rather simple part to play (aside from the dynamic riff in the guitar) but the different parts blend well to make a real chill sound. The vocals are kind of soft, almost background to the instruments. I would have loved for the mix to bring them a little closer to the forefront, as they were rather intriguing. The chorus had some unexpected attitude and definitely had my head bobbing. This song seems to come in a few parts, all linked together but still unique in certain ways.

Raise your volume up slightly at the beginning of “See What You Say” – or you’ll miss some of the nice notes that ease this song in. Laid back and twangy, there’s lots of whammy here, and every second of it sounds great. Before long I was snapping and swaying to the beat. I like that it’s mainly instrumental but the guitar could easily serve as the leading part over a voice. The chorus was catchy and crashes in satisfactorily. About halfway through there’s a seriously dramatic pause, and if you weren’t watching the time bar you would think it was over before it goes into a seriously awesome solo. Really, really nice song. 

The lyrics in “Scene of the Crime” were quite well written and interesting, but as mentioned before, the mixing made it difficult to hear them. All is quite forgiven, because the irregular drum beat and creative riff more than make up for it. Hey, if I have to listen to this song over and over and over again, I see no problem with that!

I absolutely love the funky soul beat that starts “fighterflight.” There’s also some disco thrown in there, making it sound like an indie rock version of something Daft Punk might put out. This song is a great example of why I believe the band’s strengths lie within their instrumental songs (not to take anything away from the vocalist at all – the music just seems to flow so much stronger with just the instruments involved).

If you couldn’t already tell, I really enjoyed listening to this! The songs were a little longer than typical EP lengths, which helped because this type of music needs time to develop and marinate and simply cannot be rushed. This EP has a real retro feel to it – in every real definition and sense of the word. I sure hope Riding Shotgun has some more stuff up their sleeves, because this is just the kind of inventive music I like to listen to! 

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