(BOSTON, MA) On Friday, September 13th , Boston indie alternative band Ruby Grove will be releasing their new track “Crystal Land” off their upcoming EP Ripple at an indie concert celebration called “Fierce and Fabulous” with bands Girl With A Hawk, Happy Little Clouds, and American Ocelot at the Jungle Community Music Club. All bands included in the lineup feature talented local female, queer, and/or trans performers, uplifting a blossoming scene in Boston not just focused on straight white dudes with acoustic guitars.
The performance will run from 8 PM to midnight on the evening of 9/13. The song “Crystal Land”, which makes its debut on all platforms at midnight the morning of the “Fierce and Fabulous” event, is a multi-layered track mixing progressive psychedelic rock, indie rock, and pop for an energetic indie/alternative knockout featuring 80s synths, in-your-face guitars, jazzy drums, and sultry vocals. Ruby Grove’s lead singer Melissa Nilles writes, “it’s our song about sex, death, and falling into the sun”. Its lyrics tell a story of love, lust, and embracing existential dread and Buddhist philosophies during the COVID-19 pandemic that might just help a few people process what happened during those godforsaken years.
Featured performer Ruby Grove is a New England Music Award-nominated indie alternative band based in Boston with influences like Tash Sultana, Khruangbin, Metric, Little Dragon, Jamiroquai, Jeff Buckley, and Muse. Creating a funky, soulful, and mystical sonic atmosphere that features genre fusion, Ruby Grove has carved a unique niche out for themselves since their explosion into the scene in late 2022. Ken Sears of If It’s Too Loud said of Ruby Grove, “Nothing else in the city [of Boston] sounds anything like Ruby Grove… almost impossibly infectious”.
Ruby Grove’s single release takes place in the middle of their Northeast tour in August and September 2024 to Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. Tour stops after the 9/13 concert in Somerville include a 9/21 concert at Alchemy in Providence supporting Rhode Island indie phenoms Grizzlies at their “Love In Short Paragraphs” album release show, and a 9/28 appearance in Salem at Gulu Gulu Café with New Jersey-based party rock band The Foes of Fern.
New tour dates in Store for summer 2023!
We’re planning to visit these locations this summer- come see us on tour in August!
GREATER BOSTON SHOWS:
May 28th- The Jungle- Somerville, MA
May 30th- Dorchester Brewing Company-
Featured Artist at the EBASS Songwriter-Producer
Meetup Event- Dorchester, MA
June 28th- The Burren- Somerville, MA
September 22nd- The Jungle- Somerville, MA
EAST COAST TOUR DATES:
August 3rd- Mercury Lounge- NYC
August 4th- Low Dive- Asbury Park, NJ
August 5th- TBA in Brooklyn, NYC
August 17th- TBA in NH
August 18th- 33 Golden Street, New London, CT
New SINGLE "MAYBE IT’S TIME" out now!!!
Check it out on alllll platforms!!! We’re so pumped to share our first single with you!
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4YlpKqjpW6PRrmCVPKutrM?si=6rB6NbxpQDy4K0J2ZciUIQ&nd=1
Apple Music:
https://music.apple.com/us/album/maybe-its-time/1675771593?i=1675771594
Bandcamp: https://rubygrove.bandcamp.com/track/maybe-its-time
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePUUjwbKbBM
New England indie alternative newcomers Ruby Grove release hypnotic new single “Maybe It’s Time”
Part trippy magic, part empowering balm for the soul, “Maybe It’s Time” serves as a powerful, funky anti-anxiety anthem in a post-pandemic world
On Friday, March 31st, Boston-based indie newcomers Ruby Grove will be releasing their new music single “Maybe It’s Time”, the result of a collaboration with Nick Zampiello of “This Bliss” and “Party Bois”, on all music platforms. With members Melissa Nilles (vocals + keys) and Cedric Lamour (bass +guitar) previously linked to the epic Boston-based alternative rock band Miele, which disbanded like many others during the pandemic, the path to re-forming a new project and ultimately releasing new music was paved with plenty of pandemic-related delays and obstacles. The apt-named single “Maybe It’s Time” ironically reflects the creative impulses, pressures, and delays which so many other musicians and artists have experienced during this time.
Described by frontwoman Nilles as “the sonic lovechild of Beats Antique, Portishead, Jamiroquai, Gnarls Barkley, and Gorillaz”, the vibey track features sassy and soulful vocals over bass-heavy hip-hop and electronic grooves from the band. Nilles both teases and encourages the listener to release oneself from inner traps and experience creative rebirth and expansiveness with Patti Labelle-esque refrains and harmonies, backed up by her multi-faceted vocal counterpart Cedric Lamour. Lamour also offers a mysterious and seductive pied-piper vibe as he layers intricate Spanish-inspired guitar riffs with bouncy bass grooves throughout this funky mid-tempo jam, over drums and production by Zampiello clearly influenced by electronica, trip-hop, and the boom bap drum styles of the Lofi girl era.
Nilles says Ruby Grove is best described as “an indie alternative project rooted in trip-hop and neo-soul grooves, informed by lofi hip-hop, electronica, rock, and world music (especially middle-eastern dub)”, though she believes it is best to aim for the “formation of new genres through multi-genre synthesis madness” in all of her work. The project also includes live drummer Sage Gibbons, who has contributed to other recent songwriting efforts and local shows.
Ruby Grove will be making supporting appearances throughout the months of March and April at multiple venues including 3/4 at Salem Tavern in Salem, MA, 3/16 at the Armory Singer-Songwriter Showcase in Somerville, MA, and an exclusive single release listening party on April 1 in Somerville to support this new single release. Ruby Grove also plans to launch a tour in August 2023 through the larger New England and New York area.