Upon hearing the debut two-track release by Watford’s Lost in the Riots late last year, it was clear that they were a new band with ample potential. The two tracks were polar opposites of the instrumental spectrum; one track was a tender slice of post-rock and the other was mathy and intricate as they come. Potential, yes, but you also felt that they hadn’t quite found their voice yet.
The good news is that that voice has been found and it falls somewhere between the two songs that made up that first release. The title track launches out of the starting blocks in truly anthemic fashion, a huge intro riff that pulls you into a track that has a remarkable amount of ideas for its five minute length. And it only gets better from there.
Throughout the album, it’s easy to hear hints of other bands in there; Loki is instantly familiar to anyone who’s heard anything by Maybeshewill, another glorious opening riff that only lets up to pave the way for something even more glorious to close the song. The one-two punch of Sentinels and The City Burned wouldn’t sound out of place on either of And So I Watch You From Afar’s two albums.
However, there are plenty of moments LITR really feel like they’ve come into their own, and these prove to be the standout moments of the album. Pearl River Delta confidently morphs from a sky-scraping dual-guitar torrent into a rousing ending via some very clever guitar interplay, leaving you torn between hypnosis and head-banging.
The work between the two guitars is also brilliantly displayed on Boats Against The Current, which swoons from beat to beat with some clever use of delay (which should probably be a negative, as I actually missed my stop on the bus last night trying to figure out which notes are actually being played and which are the echo; be warned). The closing track We Build Cathedrals is probably the most out-and-out heavy, swaggering and sauntering throughout.
With Stranger in the Alps, Lost in the Riots have delivered a really confident, well-crafted debut. For some it might step a little too closely on the footsteps of other bands that have come before in parts, but there’s just so many ideas brimming forth in the running time of this record that it’s entirely forgivable. Two weeks into January, the bar has been set high for other new bands in 2013.
Stranger In The Alps is released on February 4th and can be pre-ordered through their Bandcamp page.
Guest review by Matt Elton from Arbor Lights.
