B-Side Guys

Some songs arrive like old photographs found in unexpected places. Rikki Rakki’s “James River,” released just twenty days ago as the focus track from their new EP Sing, Cicadas!, captures specific moments with such vivid clarity that listeners become temporary witnesses to someone else’s formative experiences. The Richmond outfit has crafted something that transcends simple reminiscence, creating instead a testament to how places imprint themselves onto our identities.

The track’s brilliance lies in its three-act structure, each verse capturing a different relationship with the same Virginia waterway. “Take me to the James/Where we took a swim on the way to Lexington” establishes youthful spontaneity, while “Summer don’t last long/So we abandoned all our plans and filled our shoes with sand” acknowledges the transience that makes such moments precious. The second verse shifts toward adolescent rebellion with “crept along the pipeline, drunk with friends in the moonlight,” introducing both risk and vulnerability through the unexpected detail of “a duckling touched our legs.”

Erika Blatnik’s vocal delivery—described in the band’s materials as “sweet-tart”—provides the perfect vehicle for these narratives, balancing sentimental attachment with clear-eyed observation. This vocal quality creates productive tension with the dreamy instrumentation, preventing the track from dissolving into mere nostalgic haze. When Blatnik reaches the final verse’s heartbreak and unexpected reunion (“Never thought I’d see the day/But it’s that river all the same that brought you back again”), the emotional payoff feels earned through specific experience rather than generic sentiment.

The instrumental arrangements by Matt Luger (guitar/synth), Andy Brown (bass), and Jay Kole (drums) create what the band aptly describes as a “vibrant tapestry of sound.” Reverb-washed harmonies and ambient textures provide atmospheric backdrop to the narrative specificity, while the rhythm section maintains momentum that prevents the song from becoming static despite its backward-looking lyrics.

What elevates “James River” beyond similar nostalgia-driven indie folk is how it connects personal memory to larger ecological contexts. As part of an EP examining “the fragile ecosystem that we are intrinsically a part of,” the song demonstrates how individual experiences exist within environmental frameworks. The chorus—”Oh, take me to that river/Oh, take me to that shore/Oh, sweet Virginia/Oh, honey take me home”—functions both as emotional anchor and recognition of belonging to something larger than individual experience.

This focus track perfectly embodies the EP’s mission as described by the band: acknowledging the difficult feelings explored in their previous album Breaking Skin while “finding routes to moments of joy and hope.” Through precise detail and emotional directness, Rikki Rakki has created a song that transforms specific Virginia experiences into something universally resonant—a reminder that our most personal moments often occur in shared spaces that hold countless other stories besides our own.