The Riptide Movement – Getting Through
- Written by Eoin Gleeson
Getting Through, The Riptide Movement’s debut full length album release, anticipated as a seminal record in the Irish and indie music scenes, has rightfully earned its place among in the echelons of classic indie rock. Nominated on the Meteor Choice Music Prize Shortlist for Irish Album of the Year, right from the opening track ‘Animal’ and throughout the record, The Riptide Movement are able to maximise their formula of sing-along choruses, trimmed down guitar riffs, feel good lyrics and full band vocals to make this a really worthy record from the Dublin four piece. The Irish Number One, gold-selling album highlights include numerous infectiously catchy tunes such as ‘All Works Out’ and ‘You and I’ which now have become indie classics, and ‘Glór’ with Mal Tuohy’s bluesy, chiselled vocals providing a real hook. ‘How Can I Let You Go?’ has summer anthem written all over it with its group vocal chorus easy to imagine as a festival sing along favourite. And not to say that these boys are all squeaky clean either, on the Kings of Leon-esque ‘Glór’, Tuohy hits out at the Irish government’s woeful economic policy singing: “Fuck this town, and fuck this economy / This is our street, as another generation’s left on the heap.”
The self-styled Irish answer to The Gaslight Anthem, Augustines and Frank Turner, the indie-rock melodies combined with their simplicity make it a refreshingly clean and crisp sounding record, and easy to understand their popularity. As well as upbeat tunes, more reflective numbers such as the album title track ‘Getting Through’, which eventually breaks out into an indie anthem, show us their range. The undeniable good feel vibe racing through the album is infectious; Tuohy’s lyrics deal with themes of love, break-ups and relationships, telling us there is light at the end of the tunnel. The Riptide Movement is a name we feel we’ll be hearing about plenty in the years to come.