Rose City Band – Summerlong (2020)

Walkin’ in the park just the other day, baby 
What do you what do you think I saw? 
Crowds of people sittin’ on the grass with flowers in their hair said 
Hey Boy do you want to score?

Back in those days, we all gathered at the Red House in Butcher Park. Five, ten, sometimes as many as twenty kids from around the neighborhoods gathering together to celebrate that special boredom of summertime youth. It all happened rather spontaneously.  We seemed to know instinctually that activities would begin after dinner.  Nobody ever picked a time or made plans to meet the following night.  

Instead, it was a casual word-of-mouth that brought everyone together.  This odd cast of social rejects, athletic failures, and high school dropouts.  Not so unlike a cast of characters from the Springsteen songbook.  We had our very own Crazy Janey, Sloppy Sue, Hazy Davey and Little Early Pearly. These are people who truly couldn’t have existed anywhere but the American Mid-West. Wheeler the Dealer was a case in point. He was exactly as you would think: dressed always in a Ted Nugent t-shirt with ragged cowboy hat. A raccoon tail tied to the back for maximum affect. Most of younger kids were a bit intimidated of Wheeler, but we could always count him to keep the group supplied in low-grade marijuana by the joint or the pound (God only knows whatever happened to him).

Despite some of these eccentrics, or maybe because of them, it was a oddly peaceful and intelligent group that would gather with music blasting from their portable boom-boxes. In many ways it was my first exposure to some of the more interesting rock music- Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, The Byrds and Roxy Music all mingled together with the more mainstream music of kids my age: KISS, AC/DC and, yes, Percy and company. All blended together nicely into a rather interesting mix of classic rock staples.  

The result of all this music, low-grade narcotics and interesting personalities was that it created a rather interesting vibe around our little summer camp fire. How often the warmth of that scene produced laugher and celebration for our little group. More than that, there was an easy-vibe that allowed us to explore conversations ranging from the teachers we hated the most to more esoteric discussion about God, Man and the purpose of our place on this planet. Simple conversations, certainly. But also important to me in so many ways. During these discussions I often picked up on ideas and values that I would explore later on my own. And as a burgeoning Marxist, I was hungry to hear ideas discussed openly and seriously.  

It’s that beautiful, exploratory camp-fire vibe that is also explored on Rose City Band’s brilliant new album, Summerlong. The Rose City Band has the extraordinary talent to use the easy-going atmosphere of country-rock to open doors into much deeper and meaningful conversations. This all doesn’t happen by accident. Ripley Johnson is the frontman behind both Wooden Shjips and Moon Duo, two of the most important bands that are pushing the definitions of music and sound this decade. As a one-man band with Rose City, Johnson’s music quickly casts a blissed-out head trip over anyone falling under its warm, psychedelic haze. Johnson’s music weaves together the simplicity of the past with the openness of our former youth.  Like those long-gone summers I spent at the Red House, Summerlong comes together with innocence. The conversation is both easy and deep as hell. In fact, the music seems to have an almost accidental quality that allows us to let our guard down and open our heads to the music before us.  

Summerlong will take you by surprise, and that’s part of the charm. Slowly pulling its listeners deeper and deeper into the haze of droney psychedelic guitars and strong hypnotic rhythms that provide an almost motorik drive.  These elements don’t so much blend together as much as they meander in and out of focus, becoming increasingly complex as the music develops.   The soundscape growing broader and wider as the listeners give themselves to the meditative environment. For example, on “Floating Out”, Johnson is stitching together the laid-back country vibe of, say, the Scud Mountain Boys’ classic Massachusetts album with a unique, lofi head-buzz of shimmering electric guitars. It’s magnificent. The music building layer upon layer of smokey, surreal sound. Creating an adventurous musical landscape where almost everything seems possible.

The Rose City Band’s Summerlong is an album that oozes a psychedelic country-rock that feels both organic and surreal. There is no contradiction in that description. The music manages a rare cosmic rootiness that you won’t be hearing elsewhere. The sparseness of the musical backdrop is a beautiful and gently reassuring, a reminder that we are embarking on a journey into those vast summer skies from yesterday and, most importantly, tomorrow.

by Shawn Ciavattone

https://rosecityband.bandcamp.com/