Riot Son’s “PULSE” is an ambitious attempt to make isolation sound enormous
Riot Son, the alternative rock project of Boone, North Carolina artist Riot Son, has an unusually expansive idea of what a debut single should accomplish. “PULSE” does not present itself as a tentative introduction. It is instead a deliberately oversized piece of rock theatre, built around the conviction that isolation can be transformed into spectacle.
The song’s most striking feature is its instability. Its verses lean into a dark, Elvis-inspired swagger, with Riot Son adopting the kind of commanding vocal presence associated with older rock traditions. Then the arrangement changes direction. A tightly controlled, new-wave-influenced bridge interrupts the song before the track breaks apart into a dramatic, operatic climax. The influence of Smashing Pumpkins and My Chemical Romance is apparent, particularly in its taste for emotional excess, but the record is not simply an exercise in revivalism.
Much of the song’s character comes from its unusual production history. The instrumental was assembled in London by Philip Spalding, the producer known as Flip X, whose work is connected to the production lineage of Martin Rushent. Rushent’s credits included important recordings by artists such as Joy Division, Buzzcocks, The Stranglers and The Human League. “PULSE” was subsequently mixed and mastered in Quebec by VE Beats, giving the track a genuinely international construction that mirrors Riot Son’s ambitions.
The artist describes his aesthetic as “Appalachian Gloom”, drawing on the isolation and pressure he associates with life in the high country of North Carolina. It is a potentially precarious concept, since regional identity can easily become a marketing device. Here, however, it gives the project a useful tension. Riot Son is attempting to turn geographical remoteness into a source of grandeur, positioning himself against the intimacy and minimalism that have dominated much contemporary independent music.
Whether “PULSE” ultimately establishes Riot Son as a significant new alternative voice will depend on what follows it. The self-titled debut EP is scheduled for August 12, shortly after the single, while Northeast performances and prospective UK dates suggest a project already looking beyond its home territory. For now, “PULSE” is notable less for restraint than for ambition. It wants to make the personal monumental, and it is prepared to risk excess in order to do so.
