Ra Ra Riot Release First New Song in Five Years With 'The Wish'

Ra Ra Riot is excited to be releasing their first new music in five years, with their single “The Wish”.

The single was co-written and produced by their friend and longtime collaborator Rostam Batmanglij (Remi Wolf, Carly Rae Jepsen, HAIM), mixed by Andrew Maury (Madi Diaz, Tegan and Sara, Shawn Mendes), and mastered by Grammy Award-winning mastering engineer Emily Lazar (Coldplay, Jacob Collier, Beck). The release comes just a day before Ra Ra Riot plays a few Northeast headline shows – May 2nd at the 9:30 Club in DC, May 3rd at Royale in Boston and May 4th at Brooklyn Steel in Brooklyn, NY. Then in July the band will join up with Vampire Weekend for a week of Midwest dates.

On "The Wish," Ra Ra Riot's Wes Miles said this: “Rostam and I have been longtime collaborators and have gotten to work on all kinds of different projects together over the years. It’s always something fun and exciting and new. When we got into his studio recently, we found we’d both been getting into fingerpicking – some folk stuff, like Fairport Convention, Joni Mitchell, Anne Briggs, Judy Sill, that kind of stuff. And so we just went from there. It started with a riff I had, super rough, with a sort of nebulous story, and he helped simplify the fingerpicking pattern and start molding it into more of a specific story and vibe. Rostam added some organ - Hammond B3 - and some mandolin, and Joey, his assistant, who’s studied Latin percussion, really added a lot of movement to it. Over the course of two trips to LA, we wrote, re-wrote and recorded the song almost in real time, and I think it’s something really new for us. To me, the song’s about the power of imagining a different world – not necessarily in a fantastic or escapist way, but in an empowering way. About manifesting these deeply held wants and desires. Having these powerful dream visions and trying to capture that moment before you fall deeply into dreaming. Rostam and I love working on songs that can read as both happy and sad at the same time and using that tension to amplify and understand the depth of these feelings and visions.”

The new single follows Ra Ra Riot’s August 2020 release of The Orchard (10th Anniversary Edition) via Barsuk. The special digital only LP release of their sophomore album included remixes by RAC and Anamanaguchi along with the band’s cover of Sparks’ “Saccharin And The War.” In addition, the band released Live in Kyoto 2010 – a live set from their first trip to Japan – that same day. The anniversary release and live LP were preceded by Ra Ra Riot’s fifth studio album Superbloom – released in August 2019 via Rob the Rich Recordings/Caroline to widespread critical acclaim. Superbloom was featured by Pitchfork and Entertainment Weekly upon release and had NPR calling it “totally vibrant, totally dynamic,” The Guardian “a colourful bouquet of baroque-pop bops,” WXPN an “infectious collection,” and Billboard a “…vibrant record, which is full of lyrical growth and fresh sounds.” The new single, “The Wish,” shows another sonic step forward for Ra Ra Riot.

Ra Ra Riot is Wes Miles (vocals), Mathieu Santos (bass), Milo Bonacci (guitar), Rebecca Zeller (violinist) and Kenny Bernard (drummer). The band formed in 2006 and after appearances at CMJ and SXSW, their unique brand of quirky pop had Rolling Stone calling their live show “one of the best indie-rock debuts of the year.” Shortly after, Ra Ra Riot signed to Barsuk and went on to release a series of critically acclaimed full-length albums starting with their highly anticipated debut album The Rhumb Line (2008), The Orchard (2010), Beta Love (2013), and Need Your Light (2016). Need Your Light also spawned the band’s biggest hit to date with the Rostam collaboration “Water,” which has now streamed more than 80 million times globally.

Ra Ra Riot have continued to create some of the most fun live environments in indie rock since their live show helped launch the band’s career nearly two decades ago. The band has headlined worldwide and shared tours with Young The Giant, Death Cab For Cutie, The Postal Service, Phantogram, The Shins and more. They’ve impressed on festival stages globally, including Coachella, Austin City Limits, Icelandic Airwaves Festival, Lollapalooza and more. Catch them live this week and this summer with all confirmed dates below. Check out “The Wish” HERE and for the most up-to-date information, please visit: www.rarariot.com.

Ra Ra Riot Confirmed Tour Dates:

May 2, 2024 in Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
May 3, 2024 in Boston, MA @ Royale
May 4, 2024 in Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel
July 22, 2024 in Kansas City, MO @ Starlight Theater+
July 23, 2024 in Lincoln, NE @ Pinewood Bowl Theater+
July 25, 2024 in Maryland Heights, MO @ Saint Louis Music Park+
July 26, 2024 in Chicago, IL @ Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island+
July 27, 2024 in Chicago, IL @ Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island+
July 30, 2024 in Minneapolis, MN @ The Armory+
July 31, 2024 in Minneapolis, MN @ The Armory+
August 1, 2024 in Milwaukee, WI @ BMO Pavilion+
+with Vampire Weekend

Photo credit: Rowan Daly

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