The Lord Is My German Shepherd (Time for Walkies). Ringlets

Ringlets came on my musical radar several months ago and I was not impressed with the first single. As I've written before, being alerted to dozens of singles per week, my decision is ultra fast. In about a minute and sometimes less I make a decision to write or not. It must be there that things went wrong between me and Ringlets at the time. With a next single, 'Street Message', things changed and I got curious about getting to know The Lord Is My German Shepherd (Time for Walkies). (And there's the single called 'New Life' from last year, not on this album, I had forgotten about, I notice.)

With 'Posh Girl Holds a Whip' the album opens with a bang. After the slowly ascending intro Ringlets goes for it and brings the listeners into the indie/alternative rock arena immediately. The intro last over 30 seconds and all the main chords and riffs are played out for you. It is only the start of a rollercoaster ride that takes the listener up and down and around unsuspected bends. To think it is only the start of the album, containing the number of ideas some bands can produce a whole album out of.

Ringlets are from New Zealand. Its members are Arabella Poulsen (bass & vocals), Arlo Grey (drums), László Reynolds (guitar & vocals) and Leith Towers (lead-vocalist). The Lord ... is the band's second album. The first never reached me. The band does not produce unique music. There are a lot of references to bands that operated around 2010 in the U.K. like The Maccabees of which most people in the world cannot produce the names any more. Some songs fit nicely with some of the great alternative rock/postpunk bands coming out The Netherlands this decade as well.

Let me start by writing that most of these bands could not hold my attention for an album. Three, four songs were usually enough. The Lord ... is interesting from the very first chord to the very last. The Ringlets shows itself to be able to find another and a next idea for each single song. This approach makes the music unpredictable and so energising to listen to. Picking out a single song as an example does not do right to the others.

Yes, at times it may lead to overload, like the outburst of madness in 'Half An Idiot'. Which is mended immediately by the start of 'Street Message'. Listening to the song as a part of the whole, I almost do not understand that I did not give up after 30-60 seconds, as it is pretty extreme. As part of The Lord ... it falls totally into place and is a highlight. It could have meant I never listened to the album and that would have been my loss.

The question what is in the water of New Zealand?, remains an important one. For a fairly small country it produces musicians who work at an extremely high level. Ringlets is no exception. With The Lord Is My German Shepherd (Time for Walkies) the band released a record I may be playing for some time to come. That I have it down in pencil for my end of year list, will not come as a surprise to you. It is the second album this week that is.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght

 

You can listen to and order The Lord Is My German Shepherd (Time for Walkies) here:

https://ringlets.bandcamp.com/album/the-lord-is-my-german-shepherd-time-for-walkies