Whenever you take two gifted pals from North Dakota and pluck the proper entrance man from throughout the pond, you get Raynes—a folksy British-American trio that Spotify as soon as labelled as “North Dakota Indie.” The band simply launched an EP called ’49 that options hauntingly lovely melodies and a powerful thematic hyperlink to the 1849 California Gold Rush. Hear carefully to the layered lyrics, and also you’ll discover comparisons between the search to strike it wealthy in California within the 1840s and 1850s and the search to make it massive in modern-day Los Angeles. Hear carefully to the background music and also you’ll hear layers of sound, too—together with a snake’s rattle, a hawk’s screech, and a wolf’s howl.
I had an opportunity to preview the five-song EP earlier than it was launched, after which I sat down with Raynes at a latest present in Anaheim, California to be taught extra in regards to the band, how the outside has influenced them, and their inspiration for ’49.
The Making of Raynes
Mat Charley, Joe Berger, and Mark Race make up Raynes, a band identify the three got here up with collectively after brainstorming over a 1,000 concepts. Charley and Berger are faculty friends who began enjoying songs collectively, ultimately even recording some demos. The pair realized they had been on to one thing, however they didn’t really feel full as a band. In 2017, they began buying round for a entrance man—a lead singer who, ideally, had each the voice and the look that match with their vibe.
That’s once they found Mark Race, who was dwelling in Durham, a small city in England. Charley discovered Race on social media and messaged him. Race responded straight away (he says he in all probability responded somewhat too shortly), and Charley feared possibly it was too good to be true. It was meant to be, although. Race flew over to present it a attempt, and the trio simply clicked. Race even obtained a tattoo of the flight quantity from that fateful airplane trip to the States.
Raynes signed with Sony Music Publishing shortly after formation, and previously handful of years, the band has been releasing singles, together with two EPs (together with ’49), plus performing some touring with the LA-based yacht-rock band Yachtley Crew.
Out of doors Ties
As artists, Raynes band members really feel strong ties with the outdoors, and it exhibits of their music. All three hail from rural areas, and Race says they had been every lucky to develop up in locations “the place nature and the outside are part of life.”
Berger, who grew up serving to his dad together with his cattle operation, says North Dakota is a unbelievable place to create and document music. “North Dakota is primarily an expansive plain with rolling hills, except for the far west, the place there may be the badlands,” he says. “Despite the fact that it’s a bit mundane, it’s completely attractive.”
Charley says the pure world evokes themes the band continues to discover lyrically. “There are a number of references all through our physique of labor to the solar, the moon, the celebrities, the rain, and the sky, in addition to flowers, birds, and butterflies,” he explains. “This grows readily from the instrumentation and preparations, which we’ve got at all times described as ‘natural’—that’s, ‘actual’ and pure sounds relatively than closely processed and synthesized sounds. There may be additionally a good quantity of discovered sound or Foley design in a lot of our songs, akin to fowl calls and ambient outside textures.”
Race provides that staying rooted is very necessary within the music enterprise, and the outside might help them do that. “I believe there’s something in regards to the outside that makes you’re feeling nearly insignificant, which could be a actually wholesome sensation,” he says. “We’re a part of one thing a lot bigger than ourselves, and that sense of humility and humbleness is one thing that could be a very important part in each stroll of life and, one might argue, particularly within the profession we’ve got chosen.”
’49 and Past
The brand new EP, ‘49, is thematically saturated with the outside. The songs “American Waters” and “Animal Skulls” specifically evoke the American West, due to lyrics that decision out issues like rivers, rainbows, and the desert.
Charley says with these two songs, they tried to create a way of “open house and expanse that will be evocative of the outside.” Actually, “Animal Skulls” even integrates a handful of animal sounds that add depth and set the tone with out being too apparent.
What’s subsequent for Raynes? The band is at present enjoying dwell exhibits, principally with Yachtley Crew, they usually’re additionally engaged on their very own headlining tour. They are saying they’ve a ton of music within the hopper and many massive plans for 2025 and past.