Silent Rider

Silent Rider

BY Daniel SylvesterPublished Sep 18, 2012

Sonically, Silent Rider strive to resemble the newly minted R&B sheen purveyed by indie/electro acts like Miike Snow, Passion Pit and Yeasayer, but once you dig a bit deeper, the Brooklyn, NY artist's self-titled debut begins to structurally resemble the work of late '90s emo. Pushing a warm-toned guitar and an excessively mawkish vocal delivery through spit-shine programming and icy synths, Reed Kackley's Silent Rider persona ends up hovering dangerously close to Owl City territory. Kackley proves to be a technically gifted producer, ostensibly possessing the capacity to craft moody, eclectic electronics. But, unfortunately, Silent Rider mostly works off a narrow sound spectrum, as the helium back-beat of "Bloody War" and the slinky melody lines on "They Say it All" would have benefitted from a bit of eccentricity. In a climate where Internet-distributed, self-released material has replaced the hand-distributed demo, artists like Silent Rider are suffering through those early identity-finding years on a much larger scale.
(Independent)

Latest Coverage