Ride - "Tomorrow's Shore" EP

Ride, alongside Slowdive and My Bloody Velentine, made up the big three of early 90's Shoegaze.  Now while not as noisy and hazy as MBV or as delicate as Slowdive, Ride sort of fit comfortably in the middle.  On their 1990 classic "Nowhere", they brought together crisp production and stunning atmosphere's for a truly wonderful sound.  Ride proved here also that they could handle 6-7 minute songs just as easily as a 3 minute tune aimed for the radio charts.  It's a beautiful album.  But Ride obviously had plenty more ideas, because while not as sonically beautiful, their 1992 album "Going Blank Again" packed a punch still.  This album was just as vibrant and colorful as it's album cover, and Ride seemed to be working with catchier material than ever.  Once again, Ride was working with really great material.  But with every great band comes their eventual downfall.  In 1994 Ride through out all their Shoegaze elements and went full-on Classic Rock mode with "Carnival of Light".  Now, on paper that doesn't sound too bad at all.  But the music here was so disjointed.  The glistening production and thick atmospheres were nowhere to be found, and Ride didn't seem to have nearly as much personality as they once did.  I may have liked a track or two, such as "Natural Grace", but overall this album was a horrible disappointment.  And to be honest, their 1996 album "Tarantula" is seriously not much better.  Most of you know what happened next.  Ride broke up rather ugly, and was silent for 21 years.  Last summer they made their comeback with the very spotty and inconsistent "Weather Diaries".  This album had actually a LOT of really great and memorable songs, like "Rocket Silver Symphony" and "Charm Assault".  But so much of the rest of the album went back and forth between decent at best and really boring.  However, it was certainly loads more entertaining than the two albums that proceeded it.  So honestly, I didn't expect to hear from Ride so soon, but here we are a year later with a new EP.  These singles have been a little all over the place, ranging from decent at this point in their career to absolutely dismal.  Let's chat about this EP shall we!

This EP starts off very shimmering with “Pulsar”, and honestly this already sounds much more Shoegaze than anything off of their album from last year.  I actually really don’t mind the very heavy, glossy production here, and the slow and steady pace that sounds right up their alley.  The vocals are solid, and actually really youthful sounding.  Come to think of it, a whole lot of this track sounds youthful, maybe even like an old school B-Side.  Honestly, if I heard more tracks like “Pulsar” on their album last year maybe I would have been warmer towards it.  It’s just so shimmery, and I love how futuristic it comes off.  My friends, I really don’t mind this at all.  Not to mention, that last break out into a more rock-oriented verse in the last minute or so is incredibly tasteful.  Then we have “Keep It Surreal”, which is certainly not what I figured we’d be hearing from Ride here.  This is a sort of Low-Fi, straightforward Alternative Rock tune.  in a way, I’m almost getting a sort of Guided By Voices vibe from this.  But I just love how Psychedelic this is, and the very scratchy production is just so different that it’s instantly something I want to hear more of.  It’s incredibly catchy, scratchy, and all around really interesting.  I seriously love hearing Ride this straightforward.  Sadly though, with “Cold Water People” Ride have officially lost me.  With just how Psychedelic and different that last track was, this is an absolute drag.  I hate just how drawn out this one is, and it’s just way too jolly.  It’s funny, so many years ago Ride lost their fans when they started going for a more Classic Rock sound.  But here again on “Cold Water People” we have the same problem, and what do you know, it’s still not charming.  The acoustic breakdown is cheesy and seemingly everything about this one was designed to get on my nerves.  Even Ride themselves just sound bored performing this.  At the very least, the pulsating beat and hazy atmosphere of “Catch You Dreaming” is seriously a big improvement.  This honestly sounds like a demo of a tune that may have shown up on “Weather Diaries”, or once again maybe even their classic albums.  I love just how dreary and nostalgic this is.  It’s simple and all, and I feel like this is just so obvious for Ride, in the best way.  It’s epic in parts and is easily the most beautiful tune I’ve heard from them in ages.  Hell, I wouldn’t mind listening to “Catch You Dreaming” a few more times.  I feel like I can say that actually about the majority of this EP.  There’s also a serious sense of nostalgia to this, and there’s almost a weird Chillwave influence that makes you think Com Truise or Washed Out would have done great with this.  

Rating: 7.3/10




Genre: Shoegaze / Indie Rock / Psychedelic Rock / Alternative Rock




Overall Thoughts:  I’m not going to sit here and say that Ride are back with the sound that we wanted to hear all along.  But I’ll be honest, there are some tracks on this short, 4-track EP that would have done wonders to “Weather Diaries”.  The production is glistening, the instrumentals are solid, and more than anything Ride are indeed being themselves.   They just really need to watch themselves and not go Classic Rock on us again.