Live Preview: Pacific Air & Ra Ra Riot - The Metro - Chicago

Tomorrow night sparks an intense month of live music, as some of the artists who have released new albums in 2013 begin to embark on tours. There's a lot of them, but one of the most notable groups is Ra Ra Riot, who are on a nationwide tour supporting Beta Love which was released last month (check out FPT's review of the album here).

I've never seen RRR live before, and it is to my chagrin to admit that I've had plenty of opportunities to do so. I'm intrigued to see what the loss of a cellist will do to the band, especially after listening to Beta Love, a clear step in a different direction for the band.

WHAT IS "Oh, La" GOING TO SOUND LIKE NOW?!

All half-hearted jokes aside, I feel it is important to shed some light on Pacific Air. No this isn't an airline promo, Pacific Air is an up-and-coming band of brothers Ryan and Taylor Lawhon out of California. Formerly known as KO KO, the duo released an EP (aptly named: LONG LIVE KOKO) in October and have since been touring supporting dreamy pop acts like Passion Pit, Walk the Moon, and now Ra Ra Riot.

Pacific Air

The EP features 4 songs, most notably led by the first single "Float" - for which you can find the video below. The EP is consistently catchy, despite being primarily down-tempo, and the four tracks feature a fair sample of enjoyable melodies. LONG LIVE KOKO is a fitting debut EP as it serves as an introduction to what the group brings to the table, musically speaking; keyboard-driven pop music drifts in and out of progressions and catchy hooks, despite the albums overall slowed-down demeanor.

Another stand-out track, "So Strange" features a slight amount of auto-tune (which in Pacific Air's case, isn't done in poor taste) and leads with the lines "Who cares about my name/ who cares that we're not dead". With Pacific Air's debut full length album due out in spring, I'm assuming that list of people is going to continue to grow.

Check out Pacific Air (hopefully) debuting some new tracks from their debut album when they open for Ra Ra Riot this Friday, March 1 at The Metro in Chicago (Tickets here). Or, if you're in the area (or extremely cheap) catch them when they perform in Madison, WI for F-R-E-E on Saturday night.

You can stream LONG LIVE KOKO here.