ROSE CITY BAND : ROSE CITY BAND

1. Rip City
2. Wide Roll
3. Me And Willie
4. Wandering Feeling
5. Rivers Of Mind
6. Fear Song
7. Fog Of Love

Label : Jean Sandwich Records

Release Date : 2019

Length : 37:46

Review (AllMusic) : Mysterious and calm, the debut album from Rose City Band rolls in slowly like the morning fog. Produced by Moon Duo/Wooden Shjips member Ripley Johnson, the project filters the softer side of the Grateful Dead's jammy explorations through a gentle, spaced-out haze. Where other late-2010s disciples of Garcia and Weir sometimes reworked the Dead's amped-up boogie rock tendencies, Rose City Band's self-titled debut leans more into the moments of soft, cosmic elegance that sometimes arrived deep into lengthy space jams. The subdued nature of the album keeps it from being too derivative of jam band royalty, and instead creates a warm, languorous and sometimes sleepy environment all its own. Cloudy acoustic guitars and distant organ meet with reverb-coated vocals on midtempo album-opener "Rip City." The song ambles along as lead guitar lines noodle high in the mix, sometimes hitting a bum note here or there. The slight, upbeat "Wide Roll" is about as driving as things get, adding a subtly Motorik push to the friendly, stoned character who floats through every song. Things get into a somewhat psychedelic country territory on twangy numbers like "Wandering Feeling" and the shuffling, delay-drenched "Rivers of Mind," recalling the Dead's few select cowboy songs as much as they do Flying Saucer Attack's submerged pop. Rose City Band is ultimately less about the songs, or even the jamming, and more about the muted, textural palette it stretches out on.