Free Railcars Ep

One of my absolute favourite Eps of 2008 was Cities Vs Submarines by San Francisco band Railcars. It was recorded by Xiu Xiu frontman Jamie Stewart on his kitchen floor. If that doesn’t give you indie credentials, I don’t what does. Coming in at Ten minutes on the button, the EP is just brief insight into the musical genius of lead Railcar Aria Jalali. The first and last song stand out the most for me. The opening track ‘There is ice; it is blue’ immediately will have you bopping your head to soaring riffs complimented by crunchy keys blipping and beeping all over the shop. The final song ‘Bohemia is Without a Sea’ is an anthem, fact. If you could make out the lyrics secreted away beneath the hazy layer of Lo Fi fizz you would definitely be singing along. I hate comparisons to Arcade Fire but honestly Aria has vocals that match that of Win Butler and a lot of the tracks wouldn’t be out of place on an early Arcade Fire EP (albeit violins replaced by some home made chiptune synth that Aria had created).

As a whole, the Ep is a treat. Combining stomping catchy guitar riffs with wonderful Lo Fi self constructed synths, Railcars somehow combines 5 multi-textured experimental pop songs into a cohesive and exact EP that only leaves you wanting more. Personally I’d love to see what Aria would do if Railcars had the length of a whole album to play around.

Download the Cities Vs Submarine Zip.

(I have to tip my hat to Dan who first reviewed the Ep for Analogue making me aware of Railcars.)