Nowadays, any new group of white guys playing quality rock and roll music is bound to be compared to the “The” bands – you know, Strokes, White Stripes, Hives, Vines – and the New Jersey quartet Rana are no exception.
However, even among the “The” bands there is little to connect them except their quality and the breath of fresh air they are providing for music right now. Other than that, Rana has little in common with these bands. They have a more polished, more mellow sound and a more complex approach to making music.
Their debut album, Here in the U.S.A., is aptly titled in that it accurately describes the styles of music Rana work with, which are multi-various (blues, funk, country, etc.), but decidedly American.
Rana’s musicianship, easily the most impressive thing about the band, allows them to move seamlessly between genres while maintaining an essence that is all their own.
Rana has, among other things, legitimate soul – their bluesy riffs and impassioned vocals sound real and uncontrived.
Sounding sometimes like Cake and very often like Elvis Costello, the singing on the record isn’t impressive, but certainly fits in with the music.
Very often in U.S.A. one gets the feeling that he has listened to many of the songs before (many have an ’80s vibe), but the connection is not so strong that the music seems overly derivative. Rather, the familiarity makes the songs more easily accessible (it only requires a few listens before one can properly jive along with the music).
Standout tracks on the album include the slinky-smooth blues groove “Not So Mopso,” the Costello-esque “Good Book,” the up beat jam “My One Dear Son,” and the rough classic rock piano ballad, “I’m Not Orfeo.”
Also worth mentioning is the slow-funked beat poetry of “Ghetto Queen,” a song where the band shows their goofy white-ness in the least annoying way.
The one sore spot on the album is its closer, “It’s So Hard (Believe Me),” which begins with an ill-advised eight-minute experimental jam. For a band renowned for its jamming, one must wonder why they wished to introduce it to the world in such a poor fashion.
However, the song does end with a minute-long nice melody, so it isn’t a total waste.
Rana supposedly gives one helluva live show, so everyone should check them out tonight at the Gypsy Tea Room as they open up for DJ Shadow.
If their album is any indication, it should be well worth it.
