RIBS

Vigilantism, revenge, obsession, and betrayal are the themes of the Boston quartet’s self-recorded debut EP, British Brains. Darkly energetic and possessing a shifting ambiance, the band has drawn approval in its year performing for increasingly rabid audiences in the city.

Writes Boston blogger Dan Goldin for Exploding in Sound, "RIBS are the latest band to emerge from the Boston scene, and poised to become one of the best... Their music soars with an atmospheric quality and intensity similar to the Deftones, Queens of the Stone Age, or Muse. The band manages to write gorgeously moody rock that's straightforward, pure, and will have you listening on repeat."

What British Brains needs to say, it does through contrast. The EP’s opening track Even is a microcosm of the love of colliding energies on display throughout its five songs. Steadily driving, it seduces towards a precipice of volatile guitars and towering vocals. The sonic contrasts foreshadow lyrical ones: on the EP’s single Brains Out, lead vocalist Keith Freund teases “I’ll blow your brains out” before crying “I saved your life” on Transversal.

Supported by local independent retailer Newbury Comics and boosted by a Reddit post that amassed over seven hundred comments in twenty-four hours to become Reddit’s top voted music post of all time, the EP sold over 600 copies in its first week, a breakout success for a band that hadn’t previously released a single piece of music. The one-two punch of sonic exploration on the darker, more futuristic Locrian Singles released in January led the Boston Phoenix to call RIBS "Rock's great new hope."