"Relay Runner" by Loma – A Song Review

     “Relay Runner” has two stable layers and a third that is adventuresome. The steady, energetic rhythm provides the foundation. The instruments that define the foundation vary at times, but the foundation is solid. The vocals attractively rest atop those instruments with a half-whispered perception of current reality. Then, there are instruments that drift in as if they escaped from another genre. The first sustained drift occurs at about 1:40, when the guitar begins wondering around until it is blown to the wayside by an eerie wind at 2:07.

     The song is from Loma, a supergroup formed of Emily Cross and Dan Duszinsky (from Cross Record) and Jonathan Meiburg (from Shearwater). They are from Dripping Springs, Texas. “Relay Runner” is one of ten tracks from an upcoming self-titled album. The album is scheduled for release via Sub Pop on February 16, 2018. Loma will visit San Francisco on April 11, 2018, when they will be at the Bottom of the Hill.

     Quoting Johnathan Meiburg:

  “’Relay Runner’ was the happiest accident on the record. We discovered it when we wired up a tremolo pedal the wrong way, and got this funny, stuttering loop – and then we built a whole song around that sound. The last thing we did in the mix was erase the loop, which had gone from inspiring the song to ruining it! But it made sense that what was left underneath was a song about how to escape from a sealed room.”

     "Relay Runner" by Loma 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lomatheband/

Website: http://lomatheband.com/

Lyrics of "Relay Runner" by Loma

Sometimes there's no one listening

Sometimes there's nothing happening

I seek a needle in the night

I feel my body in the way

I put some fingers in the mud

I put my back into the work

I face the wall

I kiss the ground

I try to move it

I try to settle down

I kiss the ground

No one can save like I do

No one can sing like I do

And when I feel it coming on

I throw my body in the wave

I want to touch it for myself

I see an image in the air

I kiss the crown

I kiss the ground

I see an opening

No one can see like I do

No one can see it like I do

I find a needle in the night

I'm at the bottom of the lake

I'm coming up again

I'm throwing everything away

I kiss the ground

Relay, relay runner