The Beauty Between – RVIVR
RVIVR is a four-piece punk rock band from Huntington, New York and Olympia, Washington. The members are Erica Freas (vocals/guitar), Matt Canino (vocals/guitar), Tammy Martin (bass), and Kevin Rains Barry (drums). They are known to cover issues such as gender and sexuality in the punk community, and those themes pervade in this 2013 album release called “The Beauty Between.”
Review by: Craig Shayowitz
The Seam opens the album with feedback into lead guitar parts into driving rhythm that builds into a chorus into more feedback that builds into an outro. It’s a taste. It prepares you for what’s in store.
LMD and Spider Song are what you’d expect from a RVIVR album. Catchy, solid, straightforward punk tunes. Spider Song has some of my favorite lyrics on the album: “You can love someone and just not stay friends / Wake one day to find they’ve faded away / And in the daytime I know I’ve faded plenty on my own.” Socially losing someone you’ve loved, while doing the same thing when it’s suited your own needs.
Old Dogs is where things get interesting. The album is speckled with slower jams, which is new for RVIVR. Still catchy, just as urgent, but more desperate. Old Dogs is another taste, though, introducing this new sound and the theme of pain when who you are clashes with those around you.
Wrong Way / One Way was released back in 2010 only on vinyl and only in Europe, but it was played live and a few grainy youtube videos and low quality MP3s of the track made sure every RVIVR fan knew this was the song. If you needed one song to explain RVIVR, this was it. High energy, stuck in your head, pressing lyrics about gender and sexual identity, forget hegemony, let’s take control ‘cause we can do this. “Someone’s always trying to tell me who I am / Who to love and how to fuck / And that’s time to pay the rent.” That’s it right there. The bridge really gets at something. “When it feels like you’ve been tamed / And you’re dragging around your chains / Start screaming your true name.” What follows is indecipherable screaming, because it’s personal. At shows, the audience is encouraged to scream their own true name at that part, whatever that may be. It’s empowering. Screaming, out loud, something that’s so personal, and even at the top of your lungs everyone else is too busy screaming to really hear you. Everyone’s just trying to figure themselves out.
The next couple tracks keep up with the flow of the album, with Matt Canino and Erica Freas going line for line, and collaborating like no one else in punk rock. Their songwriting talents as well as their voices are superbly well matched, especially considering their concern for the subject matter. Beyond that, it can be difficult to find music like this, aggressive as it is thoughtful.
The next standout track is Ocean Song, with “Now I don’t think that there’s anything left inside of me / Like I lost my name / It got burned away / Left me empty.” The mighty bridge from Wrong Way / One Way has collapsed in this verse. We can all be on top of the world, and we can all feel like that’s gone forever, especially with fickle confidence in one’s identity.
The Hunger Suite is a set of three songs, which is completely new territory for this band’s songwriting, and it totally knocks me out. Raw. These tracks are raw. They’re desperate. They’re resilient. They explore themselves in plain and harsh terms in The Hunger Suite I. “I’ve got a disease / The kind that you can’t see / But I’m just the same / As anybody.” Even deeper with “It’s just something that I can’t explain / The pain is never gonna go away.” The Hunger Suite II pushes back, though, with “Do you believe what you say when it gets in your way?” and “So nail yourself to your own sins / And stay the fuck away from mine.” Let’s question where hateful beliefs come from. Let’s question whether or not some are using bits and pieces to justify their own fearful ignorance. The Hunger Suite III ends the trilogy with the reminder that everyone has the capacity for hatred and anger, and that everyone just wants to be well. And it’s an important reminder to constantly reexamine ourselves while being considerate of others.
Elephant Song is fuzzy and ambient, and carries us ever so gently into the albums conclusion. Party Queen slowly reintroduces the main themes of this album. That your opinions and words are important. That society can crush your spirits. And that amidst the storm of doubt and pain that goes all the way your center, there is a beauty in between, and that beauty is in you and your identity.
For more information:
http://rvivr.wordpress.com/videos/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rvivr/452160671491087?fref=ts
