Ravioli Me Away – Naughty Cool

Ravioli Me Away are almost a genre unto themselves. The core three-piece of Alice Theobold, Rosie Ridgway and Sian Dorrer have always been bold in their approach. Their debut EP release way back in 2012 (the self-titled half of a split with London punk band Dog Chocolate) served as the blueprint for their danceable, opinionated, post punk infused alt-pop.

Since then they’ve experimented  gradually picked up members and seen their ambition culminate in the, frankly mad, alt-opera “The View From Behind The Futuristic Rose Trellis”. Never shying away from the ridiculous their latest offering “Naughty Cool” sees them rebrand themselves as H.M.S. RMA and remix selected tracks from their opera. 

In doing so they’ve retained the contributions of their assembled shipmates of Tom Hirst (Design A Wave), Dean Rodney Jr (The Fish Police) and Siobhan Mooney.

“Birth Time” throws us immediately into familiar territory. Its cowbell heavy drums, funky bass, wild synth sounds and samples providing the heavy grooving setting for Sian Dorrer’s powerful, super confident vocal. She hits full flow, much like in the glorious “Cat Call”. This melds neatly into the robotically percussive “Chalice Of Sugar”. This is Rodney Jr’s entry point to welcome us “to the Chalice Of Sugar”. It’s gloriously absurd.

It becomes quite clear at this point that this is stitched together as a DJ mix. The tracks continue to flow into one another. The bonkers “Chaos In The Pigsty”, with it’s low end squelches and ambient sax inflections is genius. The combination of Dorrer’s trademark yelps, Rodney Jr’s cool as a cucumber spoken word vocal and the operatics of Siobhan Mooney is like nothing we’ve heard before.

“The Vanilla Alternative” is a glitchy and deep track with another strong groove. It brings with it a much more laid back and expansive approach, inflected with swirling flanging synths. It’s a great reworking of the original track. “Sex Flute” sees Rodney Jr take centre stage backed by a chunky beat, before the frankly ridiculous chorus takes hold. This finally fades into the paradoxically titled “Optimists Lament”, which again pitches Dorrer alongside Mooney. There are familiar keyboard sounds that hark all the way back to the group’s early recordings, bringing us full circle.

With everything done with tongue firmly in cheek and endless playfulness Ravioli Me Away continue to be provocative, bold and highly original. Their colourful brand of alt-pop deserves far more attention.