Los Angeles-based pop/R&B hybrid Rare Times manages to incorporate a handful of rather disparate influences without ever sounding leaden or overly indebted to any of them. Anthony Calonico and Alex Talan came together over a shared love of music, though both approached their work from vastly different angles. Calonico was a jazz pianist, while Talan was primarily an electronic composer. They kicked around the underground LA music scene for a time before meeting and joining with percussionist Chris Parise and guitarist Marcus Andersson. Drawing inspiration from artists like Keith Sweat, Chet Baker, and Metro Area, the group put their own inimitable stamp on their ongoing fascination with mainstream R&B/pop production.
The band has just released the video for “Don’t Stray,” a prismatic pop gem from their debut EP called Missionary, which you can hear over at the Feel So Real Bandcamp page. The video was directed by Sus Boy, who also directed Groundislava’s recent video for “Suicide Mission” and designed the website for electronic producer Shlohmo. The video for “Don’t Stray” uses the rapid images of urban sprawl to communicate the sense of isolation and melancholy that the lyrics convey. The track interweaves graceful piano notes with a subtle electronic backbone, along with various accompanying live instrumentation. It’s a curiously hypnotic testament to the ideas of love and loss and grief resulting from the decay of a long-term relationship. And Rare Times never make it feel anything other than completely devastating.
Beats Per Minute is proud to premiere the video for “Don’t Stray,” which is taken from Rare Times’ recently released Missionary EP.
