Ringing: Finding Their Sound in the Push and Pull
Photo Credit: Maddie Barkocy
When the world shut down in 2020 for the pandemic, it forced a lot of people to stop and sit with themselves. For creatives, that meant turning inward, figuring out what was next, and in some cases, maybe even starting something they may not have done otherwise.
The Brooklyn-based Ringing started much the same, initially as a solo project of bandleader Colton Walker. “I moved up to New York in March 2020, so the COVID month. I'd never actually played in a band before. I really had nothing to do, but write and record songs in my apartment.” Ringing didn’t take shape as a three-piece band until things opened back up, going through a couple evolutions along the way before releasing their first EP in 2023, Is It Light Out Where You Are?
Ringing is: Colton Walker (guitars/vocals), Marcos Rocha (bass), Josh Mathews (drums), left to right. Photo Credit: Luke Ivanovich
Now three years and plenty of live performances later the band reached a new milestone with the release of their debut LP another cycle in the cosmic wash. Some may tag it as shoegaze, but for us at RØKKR, it very much fits squarely into soundscape of NYC’s indie rock scene. Walker told us he started paying attention to what worked well live with Ringing, as well as other bands, noting its “quiet/loud dynamic can be a trick that we lean on a lot.”
The fuzzy guitar chords drop into clean vocals and lighter tones, then snap back into heavy distortion. That push and pull in sound shows up all over the record. Songs open up, then suddenly fall out and pull you in, before hitting again. It’s the kind of shift that makes you look up, even if you weren’t fully locked into it.
You can usually tell when a band pushes something out versus actually sitting with it until it feels right. Walker noted “this is by far the longest that I've spent on anything in my life, and maybe the hardest that I've worked.” And a lot of that time went into rewriting lyrics until the carried meaning to him.
Even though another cycle in the cosmic wash released just over a week ago, for Walker there isn’t a sense of closure just yet on the new album. At the time of our interview, the band was preparing for its album release show at TV Eye in Queens. “I have a very interesting relationship with this album,” Walker says. “I feel better than I did a week ago. Relief, but I'm still a little anxious about it.” But at the end of the day, he tell us he is just grateful to be making art with his friends in the first place.
another cycle in the cosmic wash album artwork, released March 20 via Signal//Noise Records
Navigating an album release is always a strange place to sit. It’s the moment every band works toward, but once it’s out, the question shifts almost immediately to what comes next. Some bands coast on the release. Others use it as a push to level up.
For Ringing, even getting to the album’s release wasn’t something they took for granted. Like most bands trying to make it work right now, there’s always something else running alongside the music, whether it be jobs, kids, or relationships. “We all have one foot in, one foot in other stuff.”
What happens next for Ringing isn’t fully mapped out yet, but Walker can envision getting out on the road more. But for now, the songs are out, the release show is behind them, and the next step is simple: keep creating, keep playing, and keep putting the music in front of people, where it belongs.
