This Is Not A Safe Place - Ride: Review
is a legendary English rock band considered one of the fathers of the Shoegaze genre who released the first of Shoegaze's "Big 3" records with their 1990 debut album Nowhere. Since then the band released a triology of albums in the 90's including one of the most maligned records of their career before breaking up in 1996, and reforming for a comeback album in 2017 alongside both of the other big three shoegaze bands.
Review By Lavender:
Nowhere, Ride's debut record was a groundbreaking moment for Shoegaze and one of the most consistently underrated records of the 90's given how ahead of their time the band was and how brilliantly the music has held up. I also find myself consistently enjoying the bands music more than many others, their sophomore record Going Blank Again and their early recordings album Smile are both records I would highly recommend, and I was pretty high on their 2017 comeback record Weather Diaries. While they released a B-Sides EP Tomorrow's Shore that didn't wow me all my expectations were scrambled when I heard this albums lead single and while the record isn't as good as their last one, I still think there is a lot here that's worthwhile.
The song that had me thrilled for this record was its lead single Future Love a song that wowed me more than anything on the bands last record two years ago. The song is a killer blend of dreamy shoegaze and pop music with an irresistibly catchy refrain hovering over layers of guitar that develop in an interesting way, there just isn't anything more I could ask for out of a Ride tune. So I was confused and a little worried when I heard the second single Repetition, and even seeing it topped my singles chart. The track has some chanted group vocals that remind me of the recent Parquet Courts record but that is the nicest thing I really have to say about it. With lyrics so frontal and clear I wish they weren't so silly and obviously vague for the sake of being vague, the insistence of repeating syllables on the end of verses just turns out to be really annoying and despite having a few moments of decent guitar work I am more than confident that I don't need to hear this song ever again.
Clouds Of Saint Marie was the final single right before the album dropped that features some dreampop soundscape with Na Na Na vocals and a softer more sincere vocal performance on the verses. The track is a touch slow but has some memorable moments and a good vibe. A number of tunes tend to aim for a dreamier vibe than a calculated listening experience like the opener R.I.D.E a mostly instrumental track that sets the tone for the albums sonic palette.
Eternal Recurrence is the best of these style of songs as it starts off with a pretty solid first half before melting away into an extended instrumental outro that almost seems like it was improvised, but in a way that gives it a very natural and compelling sound. The closing track In This Room makes an attempt at this as well as being the longest song on the record, just a touch under nine minutes. I really think its position as the outro track helps it a lot because there isn't a ton memorable here but by the end of the record it just feels like a smooth and fitting outro that I'm never disappointed with while its on, but wouldn't go out of my way to listen to.
Jump Jet is thankfully a classic Ride song and not a cover of Future's Jumpin On A Jet. The track has a great emotional vocal performance and some hazy guitar work that grabs your attention for the hook and takes center stage in a great bridge toward the end of the song. End Game is another good song that lays out a worthwhile progression over its mellow and almost robotic verse before exploding into a shiny and shimmering chorus that I totally dig for one of the cooler moments on the record. Shadows Behind The Sun on the other hand is one of the better lowkey tracks from the record that sees the band pairing a warm acoustic guitar riff with some intimate singing, the track has a tangible but tempered progression that keeps me hooked throughout its runtime and makes its final moments pretty stellar.
For the reverse side of this Dial Up is one of the weakest songs here as an acoustic ballad that totally exposes itself for bad songwriting, as there really isn't much of anything else to pay attention to during the songs far too long runtime. This isn't the only tune I didn't enjoy as Kill Switch is a track with absolutely no progression that just bounces between nearly identical sounding refrains that range from boring to absolutely comatose and never really impress me. Fifteen Minutes is the final song that didn't thrill me with a super dull and uninspired refrain that the band randomly kicks some blistering guitars in the middle of as if they knew how weak it was, but there is no satisfying progression and the constant interruption for seconds of heavy layers of guitar don't really do anything for me or the track.
This Is Not A Safe Place won't turn over any new Ride fans and likely won't make a huge splash but if Shoegaze and dream pop are your thing then Ride has provided something well worth hearing. Not all of the records 50 minutes are perfect but it is a worthwhile entry into the bands ever growing third act of their career and if you've ever enjoyed the bands music before I am more than comfortable recommending the album to you. 6.5/10
