The Ricky Fitts - The Great Beyond


The Ricky Fitts
The Great Beyond
2017
Spotify

The Great Beyond is the debut record from LA based indie band The Ricky Fitts and is actually one of the better Indie albums that I have heard in awhile. There is a real sense of experimentation on this album rather than where Indie bands have fallen recently just trying to make that anthemic song that is going to put them on festival stages. The Great Beyond is filled with a great deal of heart, driving drums and guitar lines that harken back to Indie's golden era. yet the band doesn't stop there, they push the sound forward blending in sounds from dance and funk. "Into the Sun" drives very hard because of this constant electronic drum that just never quits, and you can notice elements of House seeping into the mix. There are a few of these smaller indie bands coming up like Flor who seem to be ready to reinvigorate the genre, which has become so damn stale over the past few years. You will notice the DIY moments of the album seep through as the vocals can sometimes feel a bit lost. You keep waiting for the sound to get bigger and bolder but those moments don't quite live up to the promise. There are times you want to music to breakdown the doors and a better producer would have been able to draw that sound and that emotion out of them. Some of the intros ("Hello, Ricky Fitts" "The Great Beyond") which are all instrumental also feel a bit out of place and don't quite make the tie in that the band was likely hoping for.

The one thing about the lyrics on The Great Beyond is just how organic they feel. When a lot of indie bands try to sound organic they often fall into a folk hole that they never climb out of. However, The Ricky Fitts' lyrics just pour out of them and hang on to this rather cutting edge. The effects used on Elliot James' are so perfectly timed and used with such a light touch that his lyrics simply soar. "Believe" is one of the best tracks on the album and is the best example of using vocal effects expertly. If they could just push the hooks further and make the sound bigger The Ricky Fitts are really gonna have something special here. "Kinsey" is an example of a track that is right on the edge of being great, but misses on just a couple things. The vocals aren't great on this song and because they try to bring in a bunch of different vocal tracks it looses a bit which is a shame because the song rolls out so smoothly. The final third of the record also tends to drag a bit, and you do notice that they could have probably tightened this album up a bit and gotten some better results. As it is however The Great Beyond and The Ricky Fitts are priming themselves for a big entrance onto the scene. Get ahold of these guys before it is to late because next thing you know you are going to hear them on your local top 40 station.

8.0 out of 10

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