No-wave, angular post-punk outfit Rayon have released their new single “Shopping,” a tongue-in-cheek ode to consumerism and travel born from near-burnout and a revitalizing trip to Mexico. The track arrives with a Super 8 video showcasing grocery store antics before the band got kicked out, proving that new life can always be found on aisle five. Available as a 7″ vinyl and two-track digital release via Little Cloud Records alongside B-side “Running,” the single marks the first in a new series of similar records for the band. Rayon is the project of long-time North Portland resident and Detroit-area native Eric Sabatino, now featuring Anna Sabatino, Riley McLaughlin, Eric Rubalcava, and Derek Longoria-Gomez from Sun Atoms, Yuvees, Pastilla, and Martha Stax.
Recording on rainy weekends in a garage studio packed with old reel-to-reel tape machines, partially-functional tube amps, and leaky British motorcycles, the songs were captured onto 16 tracks of 1/2″ tape while running through a slightly-wonky tape echo. Sabatino broke tradition by mixing with famed engineer Larry Crane at Jackpot Recording, who has worked with Cat Power, Sleater-Kinney, The Decemberists, The Go-Betweens, Elliott Smith, and Death Cab for Cutie, with mastering by Timothy Stollenwerk at Stereophonic Mastering. “Doing everything on film and tape is a bit of a safety check-valve, to make sure we make everything like humans with no autotune, copy/paste or AI. I’m becoming an imperfectionist,” Sabatino says. “This was the first time we’ve engaged a ‘professional’ to work on our recordings. The education we received was immense, and Larry was kind with his explanations of everything we had previously done ‘wrong’ with our recordings, was willing to work with what we provided and willing to get weird with us.”
The EP almost didn’t happen. “I nearly walked away from Rayon. The last record wasn’t selling, a lack of decent show offers, festival rejections and a general feeling of burnout was happening. Our second guitarist left, and then our drummer,” Sabatino explains. “The addition of guitarist Riley McLaughlin and Eric Rubalcava (drums) and Derek Longoria-Gomez (percussion and bass) from our ‘band-in-law’ Sun Atoms brought new life and energy to the band. We played some of the first enjoyable shows in a few years, and a new energy emerged. We started functioning as a band, we traveled to Mexico, and came back to record these songs. And another record is in the works. As for the new video, we got kicked out of two grocery stores making it. The Mexican Tienda was cool as hell; they loved it.”