Rah Rah set to release The Poet’s Dead: Review

Regina indie pop group reflects on newfound maturity with new release

Regina’s Rah Rah has had their fair share of success over the years, with plenty of acclaimed national tours and buzzed-about full-length albums. But the best part about the multi-member indie pop group has always been their wide-eyed antics and sense of sheer fuck-around-ness. Who doesn’t love bubbles and confetti being bukkake’d in their faces at a live concert?

rah rah poet's dead

And the party certainly didn’t start and end at the show onstage. A few years ago I saw their van parked on a Montreal side street. Intrigued by the Saskatchewan license plates and the total band van vibes, I laughed at a beer bong that was not-so-inconspicuously placed on the dashboard in full view of any potential authority figure. Good times, I bet.

Concurrently, in so many reviews and feature articles, the youth of the band was never understated – you could literally hear the adolescence dripping from the vocals on their early material.

But growing up is a form of everyday cruelty and for a band like Rah Rah to lose that spark of vitality would certainly be heartbreaking.

Thankfully, on The Poet’s Dead, the group’s newest and upcoming full-length album, that is not the case.

The album will no doubt be labeled as “mature”. And, pigeon-holing notwithstanding, it’s pretty much true – Rah Rah have grown into their sound, not out of it. Still, no matter how many suits and ties and formal gowns that band chooses to wear in their press photos, that sense of afternoon adventure club has not been lost.

The focus of the music is still rooted between deeply layered driving indie pop and orchestral noodling, all the while keeping things fun and bouncy.

Lead track “Art & a Wife”, whether they meant it or not, is a coming-of-age anthem for Rah Rah. Slightly goofy with rhyming lyrics, the song details the rise of the band amidst all the obligatory behavior of touring and drinking and now having a burning itch to settle down.

You and me both buddy.

Additionally, the packaging itself is a testament to a band that got their shit together. The Poet’s Dead is an excellent follow up to the band’s previous work and is hopefully a sign for more greatness, and tasteful growing up, to come.

The Poet’s Dead is set to drop on October 2 digitally or on October 22 as a piece of plastic on Hidden Pony Records.

Check out Rah Rah at Breakout West in Regina:

FRI 28 SEPTEMBER – Victoria Park
SAT 29 SEPTEMBER – Connaught Community School
SUN 30 SEPTEMBER – Casino Regina

Check out the video for “Art & a Wife” below.

The Poet's Dead - Rah Rah

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=VyI1bGeg0vc&w=600]