Hey kids, you like co-ed duos where the guitarist's blown-amp sound splits the difference between the Jesus and Mary Chain and Mazzy Star, and the singer is a dusky-voiced chanteuse from a land south of the equator? I know Mexican Summer does. In 2010, the label put out two records from incredibly similar bands who fitting within that narrow description-- The Waves was a stirring introduction to the transplanted San Franciscans in Tamaryn, and next came the domestic rerelease of Black Ryder's Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride, available in their native Australia since late 2009. If you need an easy way to tell them apart, remember that Tamaryn is the one actually from New Zealand.
But while The Waves is tough for any record in its realm to compete with, it's likely that even without the comparison those versed in psych-rock in its woozier and swooning modes would recognize Buy the Ticket as a facile but unremarkable addition to the fold. Comfort food, plain and simple. At least at the outset, Black Ryder use a pervasive familiarity to their advantage. "To Never Know You" and "Let It Go" will trigger an instant gratification for the heavy-lidded, as Aimee Nash's vocals coo almost subliminally. And then there are those guitars, where there's not much in the way of attack and release, but plenty of sustain and decay, every wide-open chord wobbling like it's embedded in some sort of gelatin.
Problem is, Buy the Ticket never really aspires towards anything greater. Its referentiality does the heavy lifting instead of the hooks or new textures. So the vistas of Buy the Ticket aren't distinguished by peaks so much as slight alterations of terrain: the prom-night-waltz-remembered shot through a dusty sepia tone ("The Greatest Fall"), the Screamadelica comedown ("Burn and Fade"), the other various comedowns ("Sweet Come Down", a lonesome C&W duet via the production of Is This It). These are dutifully checked boxes on Black Ryder's to-do list, enjoyable enough but easily tuned out.
It's easy to attribute the lack of identity to the bulky roster of contributing guests-- most notably acts like Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and Swervedriver, who didn't have to alter their approach in order to fit in. That said, the most striking moments-- "Grass" and its chugging blooze shuffle, the visceral oomph of the chorus on "Gone Without Feeling"-- do manage a pleasing extension of BRMC's debut. And really, that points out how there's still something of a void left in the decade since Black Rebel Motorcycle Club arguably jumped the "Return of Rock" bandwagon prematurely. While there is no shortage of bands trying to refract the pulverized beauty of MBV through a variety of filters, shoegaze more in tune with leather jackets, muscle cars, and marijuana has ultimately lain mostly fallow. Unfortunately for Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride, the badass-ness required to make a mark in this sphere just isn't there.
