Burton-on-Trent’s The Ritz Are back with their latest single ‘Back Against The Wall’. It was recorded and produced by Michael Smith (Wolf Alice / Elvis Costello / Spencer Davis Group) at RYP Recordings in London.
Last time out on ‘Only Time Will Tell’, The Ritz tapped into the kind of melody that adorns mass crowds and nostalgic joy. ‘Back Against The Wall’ is the counter-point to this. Serious and intense, it charts a turbulent course that only those of pure heart can navigate.
The windswept majesty of The Crooks and the keys of Richard Ashcroft’s early solo albums signify a focus and drive from the innermost parts of songwriter and frontman Robbie Joyce. Joyce’s vocal vividly lays bare his anxieties alongside newfound sonic distress. The records’ sonic pain and anguish ooze through him but always with earnest effrontery. In the moments when the torture swells (“I know the pain will never heal / Of the hurt, the suffering and the despair”), he manages to wade through the quagmire of despair with humble bravery.
Finley Armitage’s guitars shine on this record, particularly in two short but defining solos. The first solo, inspired by the melancholic grandeur of Andrew Cushin and Noel Gallagher’s ‘Chasing Yesterday,’ amplifies the record's volatility. The second solo, a nod to Richard Ashcroft’s ‘Science of Silence,’ injects a level of power and despair that solidifies The Ritz as serious.
It is, though, the hook of Joyce’s couplet “I can carry all this weight / I can’t leave it up to fate” that carries this record and the band to another level. Its power will drop grown men to their knees in gut-wrenching epiphanic moments of change.
With this single, The Ritz have become a serious player. They’ve always had the melodies, but now they have discovered that music is power, and the journey to their debut album is a drooling prospect.