Makin’ It: The Rural Alberta Advantage
Thursday, January 14th, 2010
Continuing with our predictions on bands for our newly minted “makin’ it” in 2010, we’d like to introduce you to The Rural Alberta Advantage or The RAA for those who are easily tongue-tied like myself. Hailing from, you guessed it, Alberta, Canada, The RAA are the real deal.
A three-piece indie band that writes about what they know, “hometowns and heartbreaks.” I first caught The RAA in concert last May at The Mercury Lounge on a pure whim — and — I’ve been hooked since. At the time, they played to a half-filled club and didn’t even have an album to release. Fast-forward almost 8 months, their debut album Hometowns has officially dropped, they played to packed crowds, and recently opened for Passion Pit here in NYC. Pretty amazing!
This past weekend, The RAA returned to the Mercury Lounge with a vengeance. Not even a terrible cold could sideline frontman Nils Edenloff as he soldiered on through not one, but two, 50-minute shows. The other bandmates were in top form as Amy Cole did her thing on back-up vocals, xylophone, and tambourine while drummer Paul Banwatt kept time to perfection. Check the band stats after the jump and audio of standout track “Don’t Haunt This Place.” Let’s just say they had me at “heartbreaks.”
Thanks to The Edgitator for the pic.
