Bassist/bandleader Karina Rykman has released a new single, “City Kids”. Perhaps best known as the bassist for Marco Benevento, Rykman has begun forging a career for herself as a bandleader with a string of solo releases.
As Rykman explains of the track, “‘City Kids’ is unbridled joy meets lunatic sunshine. A left of center uptempo celebration, with a cynical and self-deprecating account of why growing up in Manhattan can make a person out of touch with societal norms and suburban customs – like pumping gas, camping, and certainly walking on grass. All while pulsing bass lines and synthesizers push the dance party onwards. I play bass and synths, Adam November on guitar, and Chris Corsico on the drums.
The native New Yorker takes a light-hearted approach to examining the jaded psyche of a New York City kid as quirky, Talking Heads-like grooves and vocal effects swirl over tongue-in-cheek quips like “I once went skydiving with David Byrne. I didn’t even get a picture.”
While the song itself is a pre-COVID creation, Rykman had plenty of time reflect on the cognitive dissonance of a city kid in the country while quarantining in the Hudson Valley earlier this year. Rykman made the most of her time in the suburbs, however, including playing a drone-shot live performance at virtual music festival Quarantine Comes Alive back in May.
The track was recorded last month back in NYC once studios began to reopen. As Rykman explains, “The studio we were going to record in back in March, The Bunker, safely reopened with many protocols in place in early July, since NYC’s covid transmission rate has been so consistently low. We rescheduled our long lost March session, and did a day of tracking [and] two days of mixing. The engineer, Todd Carder, was behind glass, and I was separated from my two bandmates in individual tracking rooms as well. Definitely not the usual ‘oh let’s run back to the control room and listen to the last take!’ vibe that usually comes with studio time, but they did a great job playing back our takes to us in the tracking room and making things feasible. Different times, man!”
Rykman also noted that they recorded another tune during the same sessions, the details for which are forthcoming. Listen to the new Karina Rykman track, “City Kids”, below:
Karina Rykman – “City Kids”
2019 was a true coming-out year for Karina Rykman. Known by many as the always-smiling bassist in Marco Benevento‘s live band, Rykman launched her solo efforts in earnest in 2019 with her debut singles, “Plants” and “Elevator“, and embarked on a run of her own headlining tour performances throughout the spring months and made her headlining debut at Brooklyn Bowl in September. She’s also gotten into the podcasting game, hosting a weekly live music news show, 3 From The 7, alongside Relix associate editor Raffaela Kenny-Cincotta.
For more information about Karina Rykman, head to her website here.