ROCKET – R Is For Rocket (Transgressive Records) (13th Floor Album Review)
Rocket’s debut album R Is For Rocket illustrates how raw talent, hard work, clear ideas and not being scared to rework old ideas can come together to make a truly remarkable recording.
The band have built on their acclaimed 2023 8-track EP Versions Of You – it could be considered an album in it’s own right – that created a real buzz around a version of 90s rock perfected by Sonic Youth and My Bloody Valentine, but with an updated, poppy feel.
That release won high praise from Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, Stereogum and others, even resulting in a cover for NME. And ever since the LA four-piece have been on an almost constant touring schedule supporting Ride, Sunny Day Real Estate and Silversun Pickups, the band’s contemporary heroes, a well as appearances at major festivals around the world including Way Out West, Greenman Festival, Pitchfork London & Paris and Bumbershoot to name a few.
Made up of Alithea Tuttle on vocals, Baron Rinzler and Desi Scaglione on guitars and Cooper Ladomade on drums, the long-term friends connected at High School (Tuttle and Ladomade go back to primary) almost a decade ago. But it wasn’t until 2021 that they began to take the idea of forming a band seriously, performing their first live shows the next year, they told Rolling Stone.
Work on R Is For Rocket began in early 2024 with the band recorded in Ladomade’s parents’ back yard studio, but was interrupted by their busy live schedule during which they refined the sound to a new level.
With Scaglione producing, Rocket recorded the album in two halves with 8 tracks laid down before they hit the road. The songs got several makeovers as they toured leading to some new ideas and a rethink of how they wanted it to sound.
“Recording the second half of the album eight months after the first half gave us a lot of time to think about what we were doing,” Scaglione told Grandstand in an interview this year. “We ended up re-recording three songs because we felt like we could just do better.”
The band wanted to recreate their fuzzy, distorted guitars from the live shows, replacing big effects pedals with cranked-up amps and some creative production.
The result is a thumping, raw and jagged sound with some beautifully melodic singing from Tuttle that breaks new ground.
R Is For Rocket presents 10 tracks mostly concerned with that heady, troublesome, some times painful but always interesting world of personal relationships.
The opening track, The Choice, leads in with a reversed loop and ethereal vocal before Ladomade thumps in with a pulverising drum that feels strangely off but soon makes sense with an urgent baseline and some dreamy guitar and vocals.
No one told me I’d fall deep into this sleep
It’s only dreaming
All these nightmares in my head
Are all about you
And now you’re in my bed
Tuttle sings over a complex layered backdrop that builds gradually to a heavier crescendo at the finale. It’s an overture to an elaborate journey to come.
Act Your Title brings a heavy feel to the rhythm section and some jangly guitars with Tuttle’s angelic voice over the top singing a song of resignation.
I’m crossing my fingers you’ll take your final bow
And when you stop to think it all out
Release your regrets, I’m better without.
A big reverb chord closes the number with a nice squeaky feedback at the end.
Crossing Fingers jumps in with a heavy riff that breaks like a wave flowing into a lagoon when Tuttle joins in.
When all the borrowed grief
Begins to dig you in
Accepting all the pain
And letting it win
The words flow before the chorus jumps back into the white water.
Don’t let it take away the promise we made
Honestly, I think I’m running out of time
Tuttle’s sweet voice jars with the weighty, punctuated backing.
We’re treated to some fabulous retro sounding rock introducing One Million.
I’d wait one million years
For you to stop and say hello
‘Cause that’s when it all hits you
Smack dab in the middle
And I’m the only one right there
Hoping
It’s an anthemic, big number speaking to imbalance in love affairs. A real heart-wrenching plea that everyone hears, except for the one who’s meant to listen.
Another Second Chance creates a wonderfully uncomfortable multi-rhythmic scene before coming together in another familiar-sounding chorus.
What if you open me up
And decide it’s never enough for you?
What’s a game without a pawn in your hand?
Another false start, another second chance
It’s thorny both musically and lyrically that develops into a beautifully melodic guitar to lead us out. It’s just a great song!
We get some more raw rock and roll with Pretending. Tuttle’s soft voice is a counterpoint but, again, the lyrics punch hard.
You’re always changing
Don’t let me stop you now
I wish you’ll prove me wrong somehow
You’re changing everybody’s mind
So I am pretending
This just isn’t what’s happening
At times the track almost wants to lapse into that middle-of-the-road mid-west guitar music that you could wallpaper a mancave with, but is pulled back to what Rocket do best… discomfort and surprise.
Hey I noticed you last week
And it felt crazy
Hey I know this isn’t real
Don’t you feel crazy
Tuttle sings in Crazy over distorted, thrashing guitars. The drum works overtime as the bassline drives the track on a wild, swerving path. The song eases at the chorus
I don’t think I know the way home
I don’t think I know the way home
Tuttle sings dreamily. It really is a little crazy.
An acoustic guitar? That’s right! Over a 6/8 beat, a schmoozy liquid bassline and restrained (for once) drums. Organ, piano and some rare synth sounds. This is what makes up Number One Fan.
I wanna be your number one fan
And honestly we can’t fall out again
We can’t fall out again
This is one beautiful love song that even fades out. So wonderfully out of character with the rest of the album.
But not for long. We’re back to that heavy, driving, drums, bass and guitar with some excellent wailing lead and Tuttle’s deceptively fragile yet hypnotic voice for Wide Awake. This song is a masterpiece of production: so complex and busy with every single element in place for a reason.
You wanna waste your time
Just playing the same game
But you’re so up, so down
I know you’re making mistakes
The title track R Is For Rocket rounds out this rather excellent ride.
Of course you call me now
It’s you you’ve really lost yourself
So don’t you wait or hesitate
A solid guess it’s a mess I made
And I’ll be here to wipe your tears
To show you really what what you are
If the stereo’s not at full blast already, turn this one up and get a feel for what this band brings live.
The album’s title is a nod to obscure band Radio Flyer that existed for just six days in Chicago in 1995, managing to record an album, including their own track R Is For Rocket (not the same as the song on this recording), and playing a single gig. Rocket’s album is dedicated to Tuttle’s father who died of cancer this year and who is pictured on the album cover during a parachute jump.
They’ve already ticked one off the bucket list opening for Sonic Youth in August. And now they’re heading out on a tour of the US and Europe to plug this album.
If you happen to be headed that way over the next few months make sure you catch this band before they become mega global superstars.
Alex Robertson
DEBUT ALBUM R IS FOR ROCKET OUT OCT 3RD
VIA TRANSGRESSIVE RECORDS / CANVASBACK
