{"id":29334,"date":"2013-05-01T13:17:24","date_gmt":"2013-05-01T13:17:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-rika-how-to-draw-a-river-step-by\/"},"modified":"2018-03-17T15:16:51","modified_gmt":"2018-03-17T15:16:51","slug":"album-review-rika-how-to-draw-a-river-step-by","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-rika-how-to-draw-a-river-step-by\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: Rika – How To Draw a River, Step By Step"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\u00a0Rika<\/strong> are an Austrian band, singing in English, and sounding as though they were playing in Midwest America fifteen years ago. Frankly, it\u2019s a winning combination. There\u2019s a lot more to Rika<\/strong> than location and influence, however. \u2018How to Draw a River, Step by Step\u2019<\/em> sees the addition of a vast array of instrumentation that really adds something to the record as a whole. Tracks such as \u2018October\u2019<\/em> and \u2018Retrospect\u2019<\/em> make wonderful use of these, and help Rika<\/strong> make something truly special out of these ten tracks.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not to say that the album would be nothing special without them, though. \u2018How to Draw a River\u2026\u2019<\/em> is full to bursting with twinkly guitars and intelligent bass, \u2018Ultramarine Blue\u2019<\/em> alone offers proof of the talent behind the kit, whilst there isn\u2019t a song of the ten that isn\u2019t complemented by the absolutely magnificent vocals. Early on, they sound almost a lullaby, maddeningly soft and yet captivating at the same time. As they build with the record, which itself feels almost organic in its growth throughout, they join the rest of the band in brilliance at the climax heralded by \u2018Departure\u2019<\/em>.<\/p>\n

At times Rika<\/strong> surprise with the use of a little gain. Something that when thrown in with a cello, an organ, and even a horn or two \u2013 as these instruments themselves join this Austrian emo revival \u2013 might have seen everything get a little messy. But as \u2018Port Dover\u2019<\/em>, \u2018October\u2019<\/em>, and that fantastic closer \u2018Departure\u2019<\/em> will attest, it\u2019s anything but.<\/p>\n

<a href=“http:\/\/rikaband.bandcamp.com\/album\/how-to-draw-a-river-step-by-step” data-mce-href=“http:\/\/rikaband.bandcamp.com\/album\/how-to-draw-a-river-step-by-step”>How to Draw a River, Step by Step by Rika<\/a><\/p>\n

With the backing of Count Your Lucky Stars<\/strong> Stateside and Goddamn<\/strong> putting the record out in their home country, it seems likely that we\u2019ll be hearing more of Rika<\/strong> in the coming months. Listen to this record and listen to it in full, it\u2019s beautiful.<\/p>\n

4\/5<\/p>\n

\u2018How to Draw a River, Step by Step\u2019<\/em>\u00a0by\u00a0Rika<\/strong>\u00a0is available now on\u00a0Count Your Lucky Stars<\/strong>\u00a0in the US and\u00a0Goddamn Records<\/strong>\u00a0in Austria.<\/p>\n

Rika links:\u00a0Official Website<\/a>|Facebook<\/a>|Twitter<\/a>|Tumblr<\/a>|Bandcamp<\/a><\/p>\n

Words by Tom Knott (@nounandthenouns <\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Rika are an Austrian band, singing in English, and sounding as though they were playing in Midwest America fifteen years ago. Frankly, it\u2019s a winning combination. There\u2019s a lot more to Rika than location and influence, however. \u2018How to Draw a River, Step by Step\u2019 sees the addition of a vast array of instrumentation that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29335,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,8181],"tags":[5879,6340,12740,12741,12739],"class_list":["post-29334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-album-reviews","category-post","tag-album-reviews","tag-count-your-lucky-stars","tag-goddamn","tag-how-to-draw-a-river-step-by-step","tag-rika"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAlbum Review: Rika - How To Draw a River, Step By Step - Already Heard Staging<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"\u00a0Rika are an Austrian band, singing in English, and sounding as though they were playing in Midwest America fifteen years ago. Frankly, it\u2019s a winning\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Album Review: Rika - How To Draw a River, Step By Step - Already Heard Staging\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u00a0Rika are an Austrian band, singing in English, and sounding as though they were playing in Midwest America fifteen years ago. Frankly, it\u2019s a winning\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-rika-how-to-draw-a-river-step-by\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Already Heard Staging\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AlreadyHeard\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-05-01T13:17:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-03-17T15:16:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/tumblr_inline_mm33buzwP91qztcot.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"150\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"150\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@alreadyhearduk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@alreadyhearduk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Album Review: Rika - How To Draw a River, Step By Step - Already Heard Staging","description":"\u00a0Rika are an Austrian band, singing in English, and sounding as though they were playing in Midwest America fifteen years ago. Frankly, it\u2019s a winning","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Album Review: Rika - How To Draw a River, Step By Step - Already Heard Staging","og_description":"\u00a0Rika are an Austrian band, singing in English, and sounding as though they were playing in Midwest America fifteen years ago. Frankly, it\u2019s a winning","og_url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-rika-how-to-draw-a-river-step-by\/","og_site_name":"Already Heard Staging","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AlreadyHeard\/","article_published_time":"2013-05-01T13:17:24+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-03-17T15:16:51+00:00","og_image":[{"width":150,"height":150,"url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/tumblr_inline_mm33buzwP91qztcot.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@alreadyhearduk","twitter_site":"@alreadyhearduk","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-rika-how-to-draw-a-river-step-by\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-rika-how-to-draw-a-river-step-by\/"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/508ed29771f8c5b56fdcf4695f22a2a3"},"headline":"Album Review: Rika – How To Draw a River, Step By Step","datePublished":"2013-05-01T13:17:24+00:00","dateModified":"2018-03-17T15:16:51+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-rika-how-to-draw-a-river-step-by\/"},"wordCount":386,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-rika-how-to-draw-a-river-step-by\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/tumblr_inline_mm33buzwP91qztcot.jpg","keywords":["Album Reviews","Count Your Lucky Stars","Goddamn","How To Draw a River Step By Step","Rika"],"articleSection":["Album Reviews","Post"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-rika-how-to-draw-a-river-step-by\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-rika-how-to-draw-a-river-step-by\/","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-rika-how-to-draw-a-river-step-by\/","name":"Album Review: Rika - How To Draw a River, Step By Step - Already Heard Staging","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-rika-how-to-draw-a-river-step-by\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-rika-how-to-draw-a-river-step-by\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/tumblr_inline_mm33buzwP91qztcot.jpg","datePublished":"2013-05-01T13:17:24+00:00","dateModified":"2018-03-17T15:16:51+00:00","description":"\u00a0Rika are an Austrian band, singing in English, and sounding as though they were playing in Midwest America fifteen years ago. Frankly, it\u2019s a winning","inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-rika-how-to-draw-a-river-step-by\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-rika-how-to-draw-a-river-step-by\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/tumblr_inline_mm33buzwP91qztcot.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/tumblr_inline_mm33buzwP91qztcot.jpg","width":150,"height":150},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#website","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/","name":"Already Heard Staging","description":"Covering the best in alternative music as best as we can","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#organization","name":"Already Heard","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/AH-relaunch-logo-white-bg.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/AH-relaunch-logo-white-bg.jpg","width":500,"height":500,"caption":"Already Heard"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AlreadyHeard\/","https:\/\/x.com\/alreadyhearduk","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/alreadyheard\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/already-heard\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/AlreadyHeardMusic","https:\/\/tiktok.com\/@alreadyhearduk","https:\/\/www.threads.net\/@alreadyheard"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/508ed29771f8c5b56fdcf4695f22a2a3","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bcf4d491c971b5225a3e3c450225c0ae6ba0217be8f6ecb776a9506d4aa5595f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bcf4d491c971b5225a3e3c450225c0ae6ba0217be8f6ecb776a9506d4aa5595f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bcf4d491c971b5225a3e3c450225c0ae6ba0217be8f6ecb776a9506d4aa5595f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29334"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29334\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38185,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29334\/revisions\/38185"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}