RA!
Oh Unhappy Bella
3.5
Review by Julie Bell
As début albums go, this is a particularly surreal albeit
intriguing one. RA! emerged from a group of boys
residing in student digs in Southampton, whose
enthusiasm for indie music found them creating a unique
mix of predominantly upbeat musical pieces and
harrowing lyrics. The notion for the album was forged by
band member Sidney Kauffman while painting fences
during a summer break and the rest, they say, is history.
Their self-proclaimed ‘suicide pop’ was unveiled to the
music scene in the form of a single entitled ‘I Wish I
Wasn’t Anywhere’ late last year. The most endearing part
of it is that all the PR work and producing was
spearheaded by the band themselves alongside a select
cabal of close companions.
‘Oh Unhappy Bella’ boasts thirteen tracks which are
based on the notion of a boy who is entangl