Hailing from Calgary, The New Electric are styling themselves into something to keep your eyes on in the Alt/Pop world. This track is certainly a more straight up Top 40 pop offering- perhaps they’re ‘poppier’ than they think judging by the plethora of relative chart success and radio play they’ve had across Canada with their debut single, ‘Life’s What You Make It’.
In a world of 1975-inspired acts springing up everywhere it’s refreshing to hear someone slightly unashamedly aim for a more mainstream sound- in the vacuum left by One Direction there’s no quibbling that ‘something’ is up for grabs. The Weeknd and DNCE are certainly making bids for this space, and perhaps it’s in their wake that The New Electric are following.
‘Ride This Feeling’ is an uptempo pop banger, with all the elements (well put together) to firmly hit the target. Production quality even not unwelcome sitting alongside the aforementioned inspirations. The track gets a little repetitive (a lot of “ride this feeeeeeeling“s), but then again it comes in under the 4 minute mark so is over before you notice- as with any good top 40 track (this even being the longest track in the band’s discography).
Should bands try harder to break the mould these days? We still live in the post-90s “industrialisation” of music so there’s a case to be made for “if it ain’t broke…” (in terms of commercial success). One can’t help but think that without the weight, network and marketing budget of a major, an act built in this vein will struggle to live on a global scale alongside the big hitters.
An even bigger question perhaps- now it’s here, will this style (and it’s market) ever disappear?
