Riders On The Storm

Description

Bass lines like a clumsy and exuberant puppy. A braid of guitar notes that tickles your neck. The nervous floating of a marimba, as cartoonish as technicolor eyes. A snare drum that cracks like all your friends are knocking on your door at the same time. These are the rhythms and fragmented visions that Josh Diamond and Eric Copeland have been exchanging for the past two years, magnetic, romantic, and completely uninhibited pieces stacked in the delightful and bubbling Riders on the Storm. Eric Copeland is one of the founding members of the band Black Dice, known for volume, diversion, and using alien languages as weapons. Josh Diamond is a founding member of Gang Gang Dance, whose haunted and troubled explorations lead listeners to infinite and irreversible revelations. Given these pedigrees, it was natural to think that their collaboration would be an opaque and abrasive monolith. In the grim and terrifying context of 2022, it was even understandable to wish for that. But Riders on The Storm, with its light heart and swaying movements, is actually the record we needed. The two artists deliberately went against these expectations, reinforcing this feeling of liberation and inversion, reminding us of the freedom to share unfinished ideas, to trust each other's creativity. The result unfolds like a conversation full of laughter, with Josh and Eric each betting on the improvements and reconfigurations of the other. Riders On The Storm is the first collaboration between Josh Diamond and Eric Copeland, following their contribution to Mary Staubitz and Russ Waterhouse's Distant Duos project (2020). It was recorded and mixed under the direction of Ivan Berko (Hidden Fees, Ghost Exits). In addition to their work with Black Dice and Gang Gang Dance, Eric and Josh are both solo artists, with Diamond releasing his first album Seek Rips in 2021 and Copeland his 16th, Spiral Stairs, in 2022. For fans of Eric Copeland, Black Dice, Gang Gang Dance.