MP3 Reily - Listen to the rain

Beautiful art-rock meets indie folk-pop

14 MP3 Songs
ROCK: Modern Rock, ROCK: Folk Rock



Details:
What are songs? What is Poetry? The Reily Biography

What are songsâwhat is poetryâif youâre not there, even in violent despair?â
Reilyâs long-play âListen to the Rainâ swirls into ghostly existence with these words on its lips and is permeated by the inquiry through its fourteen gorgeously haunted tracks.

The albumâs mostly mid-tempo songs make art-rock and folk-pop forays into the void attempting to reconcile themselves to one truly cosmic, and overarching question.
This consistency and dedication to a difficult theme is refreshing for a debut albumâand is rendered even more impressive by its execution: Reilyâs tunes are penned by three different songwriters in close collaboration with one another. Songsmith and guitarist Nick Bernal confesses that many of âListen to the Rainâsâ songs are piecework miracles. Itâs not unusual for a vocalist to be singing another memberâs lyrics, to another writerâs melody, over his or her own chord progression. The surprisingly natural process is aided in part by continual access to a professional studio owned and operated by members of the band. âListen to the Rainâ was entirely and independently, produced, tracked, and mixed by Reily in their own space.
The result of such close collaboration is a pleasing aura of musical community. Vocalists/pianists Meg and Lisa sing in angelic, if otherworldly, harmony over a rich swelling of keyboards and guitars. Anthony James and his brother, session bassist Earl James, pulse and flow with enough rhythmic subtleties and syncopation to keep the compositions moving while still remaining true to the melodic roots of the arrangements. Lyrically, the indicator âweâ appears as much, if not more than âIâ showcasing an unusual maturity or narrative for such young songwriters.
This communal approach is foundational to Reily; it affords them a united front when tackling subjects like Illness, Death, Loss, Forgiveness, and Reconciliation, and the resilience to stay in the breach, to continually ask difficult questionsâto wait for the âbigâ answers, to wait for Hope, Truth, and Love to reveal themselves.

âListen to the Rainâ remains nicely open ended both thematically and musically; it is an entry point into something more. âMoreâ has started to reveal itself in Reilyâs live show. Reily has cultured a varied and committed community of fans, and with the permanent appointment of bassist Nathan Stretch, have committed themselves to a dynamic and emotional delivery whenever and wherever they play. With a particular penchant for improvisation, continual and quality songwriting, and an extensive backlog of music, Reily shows can, and do, rise above convention into another realm of expression: profound, immediate and urgent musical connect.


Nathan Stretch
Hamilton, ON
Feb 2006