RA RA RIOT - The Rhumb Line LP

Label: Barsuk

Summer 2007, not long after Ra Ra Riot released a promising EP, their drummer, John Ryan Pike, drowned in the ocean after a show in Massachusetts. His death weighs heavily on their excellent full-length debut, much of which he co-wrote. Taking its name from a bar close to Pike's home in Gloucester, Massachusetts, The Rhumb Line abounds with death and water imagery, vividly evoking loss in a seaside town.

But if the music is funereal, it's also triumphant: Ra Ra Riot combine Arcade Fire's orchestral reveries with Vampire Weekend's pop sensibility for an album that's both effervescent and heart-breaking. '

Part of what makes The Rhumb Line so engaging is that it's ultimately life-affirming: It's not only a requiem for a lost friend, it's a tribute to the ones who stuck around through the worst times. As Miles sings on ''Oh, La,'' ''We've got a lot to learn from each other/We've got to stick together.'' By the album's end, he's declaring, ''I've discovered all I've got to do'' - a simple but compelling reason for moving on.