"fancy seeing you here..."
The nimble guitar shapes and cool inviting vocal ascensions of "Foggy Stepper" by Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter Rain Gregorio feels cross generational in it's emotional pull. For me, it has a decidedly 90's quality, a kind of So Cal 90's college radio aesthetic, that kind of tonal quality that would, back in that day, cause buzzy talk. If enough stir happened enterprising bands and songs would move onto KROQ, the taste making station that would literally be the buzz barometer for the entire nation. "Foggy Stepper" has that wonderful sound to me, from the underwater electric guitar, smashed machine beats, indie songwriting with serious bedroom pop prowess too plus easy, vocal qualities that also bridge pop, indie rock, folk or, more precisely, be a well crafted amalgam of all those genres.
FROM LINER NOTES (bracketed):
[It’s in the details of “Foggy Stepper” that its scope becomes apparent. A seasick energy propels the song, as new sonic wrinkles unfurl over the empathetic but uneasy lyrics. Glitchy finger-picked electric guitars oscillate back and forth, over a chugging rhythm. While stray synthesizers crash in and out of the song like lightning, disappearing as quickly as they came in. This is a song in search of solid footing until the chorus arrives like a warm embrace on a cloudy day. The refrain of “You’re better off” repeats over and over to wash away the emotional discord of the verses. “Foggy Stepper” seeks understanding in its excavation of selfhood, revealing a cautionary tale on the complexity of projecting onto others. Luckily, Gregorio comes to a sense of peace by the end, exclaiming “With gold teeth that don't match, your smile’s perfect like that.” It’s much easier to accept the imperfections of others when you’ve learned to accept your own first.]
AND
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[Last year Rain Gregorio’s debut EP “Myrtle On Holiday” signaled a bold re-introduction for the Los Angeles indie rock lifer, revealing a previously unforeseen vulnerability to his songwriting while expanding his sonic palette in lush and surprising ways. Building upon the groundwork of that EP, Rain is back with the brand new single “Foggy Stepper.” Collaborating again with producer Jon Joseph, the duo have found the perfect soundscape to match Gregorio’s conversational yet deeply poetic lyrics.
"Foggy Stepper" is the first taste of Rain Gregorio's debut record expected in early 2025 via Anxiety Blanket Records.]
"Foggy Stepper" is the first taste of Rain Gregorio's debut record expected in early 2025 via Anxiety Blanket Records.]
-Robb Donker Curtius
https://rainyla.bandcamp.com/music
https://rainyla.bandcamp.com/music
https://music.apple.com/us/artist/rain-gregorio/1681652636
Rain Gregorio’s debut EP signals a bold re-introduction for the Los Angeles indie rock lifer, revealing a previously unforeseen vulnerability to his songwriting while expanding his own sonic palette. Recalling the lush, overcast moods of famed Swedish indie-pop outfit the Radio Dept., as well as the close-to-the-vest style embraced by the rosters of Labrador and Sincerely Yours, these three songs signal exciting new frontiers for Gregorio as he gives his own unique spin on those sounds.
The three tunes on this EP were written in the spring of 2021, during what Gregorio describes as “a tumultuous period in my life.” After crafting these sonic missives from a range of moods and experiences—feelings of alienation and growing apart from others, as well as the personal management of daily life’s malaise—Gregorio brought producer Jon Joseph in to flesh everything out. “We were able to bounce off of each other, and John lent a lot of truth to the music while keeping things the way I wanted them to be,” Gregorio explains.
The chiming guitars of “Home Sick” lay just below Gregorio’s vulnerable vocals in a way that recalls the work of indie rock aesthetes Hovvdy, while “Tomorrow Keeps Happening” aches with a dusky melody that blooms into a winsome chorus. Then there’s “Myrtle on Holiday,” which represents Gregorio’s greatest leap yet. Backed by contributing vocalist Lexi Vega (of Mini Trees) and over a static hug of a beat, Gregorio unspools lyrical musings drawn from his own mind as well as from a chance encounter with a stranger in public, as he used the interaction to directly influence the song’s thematic shape.
“It gave me the confidence to excavate part of myself using the observational side of songwriting,” he explains, before discussing the importance of these new songs to his own artistic growth: “This is the first time I’ve made something that is true to myself as a songwriter.”
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM
https://rainyla.bandcamp.com/music
https://rainyla.bandcamp.com/music
https://music.apple.com/us/artist/rain-gregorio/1681652636
Rain Gregorio’s debut EP signals a bold re-introduction for the Los Angeles indie rock lifer, revealing a previously unforeseen vulnerability to his songwriting while expanding his own sonic palette. Recalling the lush, overcast moods of famed Swedish indie-pop outfit the Radio Dept., as well as the close-to-the-vest style embraced by the rosters of Labrador and Sincerely Yours, these three songs signal exciting new frontiers for Gregorio as he gives his own unique spin on those sounds.
The three tunes on this EP were written in the spring of 2021, during what Gregorio describes as “a tumultuous period in my life.” After crafting these sonic missives from a range of moods and experiences—feelings of alienation and growing apart from others, as well as the personal management of daily life’s malaise—Gregorio brought producer Jon Joseph in to flesh everything out. “We were able to bounce off of each other, and John lent a lot of truth to the music while keeping things the way I wanted them to be,” Gregorio explains.
The chiming guitars of “Home Sick” lay just below Gregorio’s vulnerable vocals in a way that recalls the work of indie rock aesthetes Hovvdy, while “Tomorrow Keeps Happening” aches with a dusky melody that blooms into a winsome chorus. Then there’s “Myrtle on Holiday,” which represents Gregorio’s greatest leap yet. Backed by contributing vocalist Lexi Vega (of Mini Trees) and over a static hug of a beat, Gregorio unspools lyrical musings drawn from his own mind as well as from a chance encounter with a stranger in public, as he used the interaction to directly influence the song’s thematic shape.
“It gave me the confidence to excavate part of myself using the observational side of songwriting,” he explains, before discussing the importance of these new songs to his own artistic growth: “This is the first time I’ve made something that is true to myself as a songwriter.”
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