Interaction

Ride

Interaction

Wichita/PIAS

March 28, 2024
Web Exclusive

By Dom Gourlay

I remember sitting in a bar in Nottingham, England with Mark Gardener almost 10 years ago when the singer/guitarist of Ride told me that the iconic 90s shoegaze band was reforming. One of the first things he said was, “I can't imagine us getting together and not having new material happen. It's just a natural process that's likely to happen when we walk into a room.”

Well, it sure has. If the 2017 comeback album, Weather calendarsand his successor two years later, This is not a safe placethey were forerunners of what could be, Interaction it's the masterpiece that Ride has been promising since we met again. The jewel in an already impressive crown, but one that further portrays Ride as a band longing for inspiration rather than the nostalgia favored by many of their peers.

Written and recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the world and everything in it stood still, Interaction represents arguably Ride's most collaborative collection of songs to date, with each of the four band members contributing their own tracks that became its 12 songs.

The one that is most obvious Interaction so it doesn't sound like any other Ride record, but at the same time it's an album arguably created by Oxford's finest. Whether that's down to the instantly recognizable voice of Gardener and fellow guitarist/vocalist Andy Bell or the experimental nature in all of his compositions is up for debate. But what can't be disputed is the way the album oozes with a confidence and sensitivity that suggests its creators know this might just be the best collection of songs they've released since their debut, Nowhereback in 1990.

The two lead singles show different sides to the album, with “Peace Sign” embracing the experimental German era of the mid-to-late 70s, while “Last Frontier” takes on a more left-field pop edge (think ” Bowie “Heroes” or even the first album of The Lightning Seeds). Shoegaze by numbers it certainly isn't. Instead, there are moments here that call to mind Talk Talk (“Midnight Rider”), Tears For Fears (“Monaco”) or Love's Arthur Lee (“Last Night I Came”). When they do delve into the great guitar history of the past, as in “Light in a Quiet Room,” the results are breathtaking. (www.thebandride.com)

Author Rating: 9/10