Rose City Band
Garden Party
Thrill Jockey
21 April 2023
Ripley Johnson does what he likes. Wooden Shjips and Moon Duo tend to be collaborative efforts, and while Rose City Band doesn’t function as a one-man band, Johnson is more of a benevolent leader. Garden Party acts more as a refresher course in what made music great while he was growing up. “There’s something about music that you’re exposed to when you’re young, this emotional resonance that I think stays with you forever. And I wanted to make some music that was honoring that.”
To some, it may appear to be little more than a pastiche of the Grateful Dead. That kind of reductionism misses the point. Rather than being rooted in a time or a place, Garden Party seems to transcend those notions, searching for moments when the heart and soul come alive. “Mariposa” begins in an almost jazz framework before the guitars begin to create their own kind of magic. While some of the guitar work has a Dead-ish feel, the song covers so much territory that one realises this is a perfect way to herald the beginning of the soft breezes of spring and summer.
The rhythmic thrust of “Moonlight Highway,” seems rooted in the jam band framework yet takes flight in keyboard grooves that seem more akin to “Weather Report Suite” than “Uncle John’s Band.” The guitar work has a looseness and flexibility, going well beyond mere imitation. As they stretch out and segue into “El Rio,” it becomes obvious that a certain level of exploration and trailblazing taking place. Johnson and his mates, pedal steel guitarist Barry Walker, keyboardist Paul Hasenberg, bassist Dewey Mahood (aka Plankton Wat), drummer Dustin Dybvig, and Sanae Yamada of Moon Duo on synthesiser can play in so many different contexts it’s almost scary.
The song “Chasing Rainbows” sheds light on what they do, shifting paths and moving in directions that shape songs in ways you wouldn’t expect. The countrified boogie that opens the song sets a tone. “Gone out to blaze a path/ Brought it in and you take it back/ Finding a way of our own.” Just when you think that the pathway is set, they shift gears and slow things down after setting things up lyrically, “And you sing high in a low song/ Spaced out and chasing rainbows.”
Ripley Johnson and the Rose City Band are explorers in the best sense of the term. They find unexpected corners to explore and make their journey much more intriguing in the process. Garden Party bears resemblances to any number of bands, yet at the end of the day, this is one harbinger of spring that takes pathways all of its own.
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Rose City Band tour dates:
Apr. 27 – San Francisco, CA – The Chapel
Apr. 28 – Santa Barbara – Soho
Apr. 29 – Los Angeles, CA – Zebulon
Apr. 30 – Pioneertown, CA – Pappy & Harriet’s
May 4 – Vancouver, BC – Cobalt
May 5 – Seattle, WA – Tractor Tavern
May 6 – Portland, OR – Aladdin Theatre
May 21 – Berlin, DE – Privatclub
May 22 – Copenhagen, DK – Loppen
May 23 – Gothenburg, SE – Pustervik
May 24 – Oslo, NO – Blaa
May 25 – Stockholm, SE – Fasching
May 26 – Malmö, SE – Plan B
May 28 – Hamburg, DE – Hebebühne
May 29 – Nijmegen, NL – Doornroosje
May 30 – Amsterdam, NL – Bitterzoet
May 31 – Middelkerke, BE – De Zwerver
Jun. 1 – London, UK – Scala
Jun. 2 – Manchester, UK – YES
Jun. 3 – York, UK – The Crescent
Jun. 4 – Brighton, UK – Patterns
Jun. 7 – Zürich, CH – Bogen F
Jun. 8 – Ravenna, IT – Beaches Brew
Jun. 9 – Milano, IT – Arci Bellezza