I don’t remember how I came across RIVIA, but I have been listening to their music for a few years now, and never get tired. Since 2019, this young alt-rock band from Liverpool have been showing their talent and energy with every single release. And this time is no exception.

“River” is the band’s third single from their forthcoming debut EP “Scratching the Surface”. From this release, you will find how constant their songwriting skills and recording performances are. This song begins gently, but with the anticipation of some excitement. Soon after this feeling, you will find out that you are not wrong. The intro is like when stars quickly start appearing in the dark sky, and you become wrapped in their brightness. As the song goes on, it gets stronger and stronger. They composed the song with a great level of contrast in every instrument and each vocal part. RIVIA are appealing in expressing both their gentle and hard-hitting sides.

“River” will be a great singalong during the band’s live shows for sure. It is melancholic, nostalgic and anthemic, and deserves to be heard also at some well known festivals this Summer. It will make you sing and dance.

The members tell us about the song. As this track “River” has been with the band since its earliest inceptions, their drummer Chris Ellis describes ‘When I first joined the band this was one of the tracks that the guys gave to me to learn as part of my audition. It was only a demo at the time, and over the years I have added my own spin to the drum parts, but it was my first experience of RIVIA and it would be wrong to stray too far away from it in this track.’
Guitarist Warren Matthews tells this familiarity comes from the fact this track is one of the
first the band wrote and finalised. He explains, ‘For me, this is one of the first tracks I worked on with Matt as part of RIVIA, because of that it will always have significance for me
as one of the defining tracks for our sound and style’.
How bassist Peter Malone-Mason feels is, ‘For me “River” represents all the hard
work from our earliest days as a band, finally being presented, and it is just the best feeling’.
Whilst recalling his earliest memories with the band, he says ‘This was the first track that the
guys wanted my vocals to take a front and centre position in the song. That was one of the
first things that stood out to me with the song writing process, that the guys were not afraid to experiment, and over the years we have developed a sort of fearlessness in our approach to writing and challenges.’

There is no genre borderline with RIVIA‘s music, which allows the band to keep writing their own music freely. And that is what makes them continue to improve. I would love to see RIVIA grow even more with their music. And for you, they are definitely the one to watch if you haven’t started yet.

(Teri Morris)

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