Alt-pop group Ripe's second studio album, Bright Blues, arrives today via Glassnote Records. Bright Blues sees Ripe pushing their already buoyant sound towards new heights with sleek grooves, bold melodies, and an all-encompassing approach that truly showcases the full scope of their wide-ranging musical vision. Highlights include such recently released tracks as “All or Nothing," “Queen of the City,” “Noise in the Forest,” and “Settling,” the latter of which cracked the Top 25 at both AAA and Alternative radio. The album also features new single, “Paper Cups,” which had its “world debut” this week on SiriusXM’s AltNation.
LISTEN TO “PAPER CUPS”
STREAM/PURCHASE BRIGHT BLUES
LISTEN TO “ALL OR NOTHING”
LISTEN TO “QUEEN OF THE CITY”
LISTEN TO “NOISE IN THE FOREST”
LISTEN TO “SETTLING”
WATCH “SETTLING (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO)”
WATCH “SETTLING (ACOUSTIC)”
WATCH “NOISE IN THE FOREST (ACOUSTIC)”
Widely known for their inspired, high-energy live show, Ripe will mark the arrival of Bright Blues with a North American headline tour getting underway March 28 at Dallas, TX’s Deep Ellum Art Co. and then traveling through late April. Highlights include such venues as Boston, MA’s brand-new MGM Music Hall at Fenway (April 8), New York City’s Terminal 5 (April 15), and San Francisco, CA’s The Fillmore (April 27), along with top-billed festival performances at Scranton, PA’s Peach Music Festival (June 29-July 2), Marshfield, MA’s Levitate Music & Arts Festival (July 7-9), and Floyd, VA’s Floyd Fest (July 26-30). For complete details and ticket information, please visit www.ripetheband.com/tour.
RIPE – TOUR 2023
MARCH
28 – Dallas, TX – Deep Ellum Art Co.
29 – Austin, TX – Scoot Inn
31 – Nashville, TN – The Basement East
APRIL
1 – Atlanta, GA – Center Stage Theater
2 – Asheville, NC – Salvage Station
3 – Charleston, SC – The Charleston Pour House
5 – Detroit, MI – El Club
6 – Columbus, OH – Newport Music Hall
7 – Toronto, ON – Danforth Music Hall
8 – Boston, MA – MGM Music Hall at Fenway
11 – Cleveland, OH – Beachland Ballroom
12 – Millvale, PA – Mr. Smalls Theatre
13 – Washington D.C. – 9:30 Club
14 – Philadelphia, PA – Brooklyn Bowl Philadelphia
15 – New York, NY – Terminal 5
18 – Raleigh, NC – Lincoln Theatre
19 – Charlotte, NC – The Underground
21 – Chicago, IL – House of Blues
22 – Minneapolis, MN – Varsity Theater
23 – Kansas City, KS – Record Bar
24 – Denver, CO – Bluebird Theater
25 – Salt Lake City, UT – Soundwell
27 – San Francisco, CA – The Fillmore
28 – Los Angeles, CA – El Rey Theatre
29 – Phoenix, AZ – Crescent Ballroom
JULY
6/29-2 – Scranton, PA – Peach Music Festival *
7-9 – Marshfield, MA – Levitate Music & Arts Festival *
26-30 – Floyd, VA – Floyd Fest *
* FESTIVAL APPEARANCE
Now boasting over 81M streams, Ripe first united at Berklee College of Music and almost immediately began drawing acclaim and a fervent fan following for their horn-blasted fusion of deep funk, soulful jazz, pure pop melodies, and kaleidoscopic improvisation. The band – currently comprising singer Robbie Wulfsohn, guitarist Jon Becker, drummer Sampson Hellerman, and trombonist Calvin Barthel – honed their unstoppable sound over a pair of well-received EPs and countless live shows, whipping increasingly packed houses into a frenzy with relentless grooves and a surprising knack for infectious songcraft.
Hailed by Boston’s WGBH as “teeming with a pop swagger, confidence, and total self-assuredness,” 2018’s Joy in the Wild Unknown proved a milestone debut album for Ripe, demonstrating an equally imaginative approach towards the studio by folding elements of classic R&B into their already inclusive musical palette. The band soon saw their global streams surge past 65M, fueled in part by nearly non-stop touring which saw them light up stages across America with sold-out headline shows and show-stealing sets at such festivals as Bonnaroo, Firefly, SweetWater 420, and BottleRock, to name only a few.
Bright Blues now sees Ripe pushing its music forward in unexpected directions despite having weathered a mountain of adversity over recent years, from a shifting lineup to a global pandemic that made recording a logistically complex bicoastal project. Eager to create something truly unique, the band enlisted rising pop producer/songwriters – and Berklee classmates – Noah Conrad (BTS, Niall Horan) and Ryan Linvill (Olivia Rodrigo, Dermot Kennedy), who helped infuse songs like “All of Nothing” and the hypnotic “Paper Cups” with adventurous, self-assured creativity, unlike anything they’d previously attempted in the studio.
“We thought, how can we do something new?” drummer Sampson Hellerman says. “Something that still has our sound and vibe at its core, how can we expand our boundaries and reach more audiences while still staying true to what makes Ripe Ripe?”
“The wildest thing for me is that the record simultaneously sounds like it has the scars of everything we’ve been through and also that it doesn’t,” says singer Robbie Wulfsohn. “It’s joyful music, which is very exciting given that it was made in the middle of getting hit in the stomach.”
