Richard in Your Mind
My Volcano
13 Track, LP (2010, Rice Is Nice)
Play All Tracks In New Window
Related: Richard In Your Mind.
My Volcano is eclectic rather than diverse, wacky instead of weird, and bounces between genres like some slavish neophyte eager to please us all. To ignore the influence of The Flaming Lips, Beck, The Beta Band and numerous other indie mongrels with a passing interest in “beats” would be ignorant: Sydney’s Richard in Your Mind is strongly reminiscent of all of them on their second LP.
And yet, this record is very enjoyable. Pop bands with a predilection for experimentation, whatever that entails, rarely sound as goofy as Richard in Your Mind while maintaining a sense that they aren’t a joke; that there’s more than what initially meets the ears. For every uncomfortable attempt at backward capped, college-bro hip-hop (and thankfully there’s only one: ‘Candelabra’) there’s a tune like ‘Losing Our Minds’, a lyrically resonant guitar pop song that plays to the strengths of Richard Cartwright’s helium-thawed vocals.
And then there are all the other songs with their own upended parameters, so theoretically at odds with one another that “cohesion” is a concept this album seems to actively ridicule. It’s not inherently virtuous to be a jack-of-all-trades, but Richard in Your Mind has a few core merits that shine through irrespective of their musical cloth, to wit: Cartwright is a simple and effective lyricist, and Richard in Your Mind play songs that would work no matter what the instrumentation.
Thankfully, the induction of Brent “SPOD” Griffin hasn’t turned the group into a brain fried party band. Apart from beats, most of the electronics provide simple, innocuous texture, with a few exceptions in ‘Birds’ and ‘Candelabra’. These songs demonstrate that Cartwright’s voice isn’t perfectly comfortable outside of his regular guitar-pop context, with the dark contours of ‘This Face’ being the exception. If you can ignore the incessant invitations to “chill” that this band’s image and publicity is proffering nowadays, then you might find profundity here, though that will depend on your temperament and whether, say, steel drums and sitar in a rock song is acceptable to you or not. Which they probably are if you’re stoned.
As with their debut record The Future Prehistoric, Richard in Your Mind’s simplest songs are still their best: ‘I Will’ is the group’s first love song, as crisp and summery as a lemonade ice block, while ‘Edge Off Dreaming’ is probably their saddest, an end of the emotional gamut they rarely explore but always do well. It’s these moments that shed a flattering light on their less convincing excursions, but detractors are still likely to gripe about their eclectic showboating, and how their wacky playfulness undermines their soberer moments.
Richard in Your Mind will enthrall some and annoy others, but beneath all the diversions and stylistic shout-outs is a collection of lovely pop songs. That they opt to riddle these songs with all manner of spacey bells and whistles makes them a far more outstanding indie pop proposition than all of their Sydney contemporaries.
by Shaun Prescott
In the midst of an east-coast tour, Richard Cartwright from Richard In…
What: SUN by Richard In Your Mind.
When: September 9 through Rice…
Sydney’s Richard In Your Mind have released the first taste of new alb…
A year on from their Australian Music Prize–nominated second album My …
i can't tell if this review is complimentary or not. it sounds annoying, but strangely enthralling... i guess i'll have to listen to find out!!!
I recommend listening, even the best words may have problems explaining this one.
Lacks groin-grabbing.
the band has spod in it, how can it be anything but groin grabbing?
it's album of the year so far for me. i've just uploaded a coupla tracks courtesy of rice is nice.
syd launch tomorrow!
I listened to it today and found it really dull.
lol, coz spod has that affect on people.
It's a fantastic album. But some people will dislike it. PM for rating out of 10.
they're a band!
The gig on Saturday night really raised the bar for local bands - best show I've been to in years.
It was a great show. 'This Face' and 'Candelabra' sounded sweet live.
This weekend was the messiest weekend ever.
you seemed a touch messy.
Was a great show, but i ended up bailing halfway through the headliners.
Totally agree - brilliant show.
And I've yet to hear another release so far this year that tops this, for me.
Was Zaphod one of the kids next to me, who spent the entire gig wrestling, pashing, attempting to throw each other over the railing, taking their pants down and rubbing their bums on each other (one guy only), and having pick-your-nose-and-rub-it-on-your-mates wars?
No, I was just in front of those guys though. Glared. Good to see how I come across on this forum though Kit, cheers :)
hi zaph!
kinda bummed to be missing these dudes on friday night though - this deal gets worse all the time.
Hi filts. i know, AND you have to drink with your shit Sydney friends.
''Thankfully, the induction of Brent “SPOD” Griffin hasn’t turned the group into a brain fried party band. ''
Haha, it's quite the opposite, actually. Dudes nearly partied me to hospital. Actually, they did! It's funny, but understandable why people think i'm solely responsible for electronic sounds & beats, where most of those are all Rich. I added a few squirts, but mainly just made sure stuff sounded good as an album and made it sound sexy without creating any electronic element that wasn't there, but just adding to songs a bit. I guess my idea of cohesion is different than some though as I see it as just making adventurous music with great songs, but get that some people like to keep things easily legible with a singular image and sound to pack into their iProds.
And friday was mega fun! Big emotions!
Really looking forward to the Brisbane show, was a shame I missed them with Cloud Control.
They were AWESOME that night SIMJ. It'll be interesting to see how they go down at 388.
Melbourne show was a BLINDER! Great support bands too (Rat Vs Possum and Magic Silver White). The finale where Richard daubed his bandmates with red paint and donned a massive rabbit fur cape with glowing amber eyes was a bizarre masterstroke. Very psych-rock with helium voice, like Jane's Addiction at times, like the Beatles may have sounded had they embraced early 70s production at others. Great show, and nice to see a band with some theatricality that is totally unpretentious.
So many fucking Sydney bands in Melbourne this weekend! Hard to fit 'em all in.
film clip for candelabra
there was a behind the scenes for this, but its going missing.
anyhow, film clip is genius.
national tour with Pikelet. RIYM are incredible live.
Geelong
Friday Sep 17
The National Hotel
tickets $12+bf from www.mohshtix.com.au / 1300 438 849
or $15 on the door if still available
Melbourne
Saturday Sep 18
Curtin Bandroom
tickets $12+bf from www.moshtix.com.au / 1300 438 849
or $15 on the door if still available
Canberra
Friday Sep 24
ANU Bar
$15 on the door - door sales only
Sydney
Saturday Sep 25
The Gaelic Club
tickets $12+bf from www.moshtix.com.au / 1300 438 849
or $15 on the door if still available
Katoomba
Sunday Sep 26
Gearins Hotel
tickets $12+bf from www.moshtix.com.au / 1300 438 849
or $15 on the door if still available
Toowoomba
Thursday Sep 30
Spotted Cow
free entry
Gold Coast
Friday Oct 1
Coolangatta Hotel
tickets $12+bf from www.oztix.com.au and www.moshtix.com.au
or $15 on the door if still available
Brisbane
Saturday Oct 2
The Clubhouse
tickets $12+bf from www.moshtix.com.au / 1300 438 849
or $15 on the door if still available
Cool stuff!
Canberra! Excellent! I was feeling very silly for missing RIYM when they were in town a couple of months back, so very pleased to have them here again so soon. Looking forward to hearing Pikelet's new songs live too.
Fancy gig review!
Live to air on PBS FM's Homebrew right now! In Your Mind!
In Your Radio.
i'm not sure how a photo gallery replaces a live review, but if they think they're actually breathing new life into a ''dormant, dusty behemoth'', good luck to them.
It has interviews in it too - did you have your speakers on? It doesn't seem so much a review as a certain kind of document of the night. Digital storytelling!
not a bad effort at trying something different.
negatory! i also had the monitor off. it's all starting to make sense now...