Southern California duo The New Ritual is a psychedelic to ambient indie-pop outfit with a uniquely distinct approach to modern music. Formed by brothers David and Salomon Gomez, the project seems like a judgement-free creative space for expressing inner dreams and desires, underpinned by an often mellow but colourful array of sounds.
From the new EP Summertime, Summertime Magic marks a fine introduction to the ambient and soulful grooves presented by The New Ritual. The song features tribal hand drums and reverb drenched guitars, with plenty of space paving the way for an equally effected voice and boldly poetic to personal lyrics.
It’s a mellow and sultry style, rhythmically enticing but with a somewhat raw human edge to the performance, and this creative freedom is recognisable across the band’s releases.
Love Is Gone follows and feels as lo-fi atmospheric as the former, but here we get synth chords and an instantly looping melody, along with a fresh vocal lead that’s more whispered but still in keeping with these unapologetically intimate reflections. The song also offers a more classic resolve for the hook – a catchy moment of calm that helps listeners gather up the stream of consciousness that was the former verses.
Somewhat psychedelic by production but still minimalist and mood-focused, The New Ritual continue to branch out creatively as each new idea or feeling guides them. Bad Girl is its own thing again, a simple soundscape, rising towards hypnotic dance just slightly, with intriguing vocal fragments and a mild performative flair; which helps reground things and keep the listener focused on a sense of story.
In stark contrast to all of this, Bulgaria is a song from the band’s album Elegant Lust, and we begin with a huge indie rock rhythm and much more upfront keys and synths. There’s still a psych vibe to the sound, but it’s bigger, more arena-like. That voice returns, somewhat sleepy in its detailing of romantic longing and images of intimacy and travel.
From that same album, Hush is another with a more striking beat to it. The New Ritual blend varying rhythms and quirky keys in a fairly enchanting and likable way. It’s a calling card of their stylistic approach, and it rings loud even throughout the versatility of their repertoire. The vocals this time evolve from indistinguishable whispers to briefly impassioned, as this stream of thought again gathers momentum.
Finally, Polish Breeze is another worth hearing from the California band. Here the indie-psych groove is gifted notable space to breathe, and works its magic for this long from to looping sense of growth and melody. The voice is lower-toned, the story a little more mysterious and intriguing in its reverb-drenched distance. Then the track rises up, distortion and fuzz imparting more energy and volume from the vocalist, and the song effectively lights up the fearless performative honesty and emotion of the band in a way that’s confidently in keeping with this idea of Elegant Lust.
Find The New Ritual on Instagram & YouTube.
