“The RT’s are the pizza of bands - you’re always in the mood for it!”
“With a sound you will not hear anywhere else - The RT’s are a live act you should never miss if they are in your city”
“Their live performances can turn into a Saturday night church meeting, fueled by the fact that all five of them can sing. You’re gonna love these guys.”
“Their second album, ‘On Tap,’ is catchy, old school, and very New York at its heart. They will draw you in — unless you’re looking for more droll post-irony dreck, black-hole density production, or sour/dour/sky-is-falling-on JUST-ME angst. Guess these guys never got those memos. They must have been too busy just playing music and having fun.”
“Come to think of it, Fun is a Genre!”
“With a killer driving groove, New York Soul Rebels ‘The RT’s’ truly show how tight they are as an ensemble while having fun at the same time.”
“Genre-defying, entertaining-for-everyone...these guys seem like they can do whatever they put their minds to.”
On May 26th, 2023, The RT’s will release Imperfectionism, their most ambitious and original album to date.
In the modern musical landscape, it’s rare to find a band that stays together, committed to a collective vision. Conservatory-trained musicians (the five met in college studying jazz performance), The RT’s cut their teeth holding residencies at peanut shell-strewn bars across New York City and touring international jazz circuits. They built their reputation on delivering high-energy performances and recorded studio albums in pursuit of faithfulness to the endorphin rush of their live show.
Imperfectionism marks a transformation. Driven by a pop-forward, synth-infused sound, the eleven tracks showcase The RT’s songwriting at its most intimate and eclectic, unfettered and experimental. Always genre-bending, the fuzzy-toned guitar and hip hop-inspired percussion spur a psychedelic undercurrent, while restrained horns gesture toward their jazz-inspired past. It’s a dance floor record with an eye toward introspection. The resulting sound is a little new wave, a little retro, and undeniably groovy.
Produced by long-time collaborator Chris Peck in his Hudson Valley recording studio and at Vinegar Hill Sound in Brooklyn, Imperfectionism was written primarily in the depths of 2020. For the first time, the five members of the Brooklyn-based quintet were physically separated: without the prospect of tour in sight, they were urged to look inward, and ultimately, to each other.
Over the course of their ten-plus-year history, The RT’s have placed collaboration at the center of their creative doctrine. Primary vocal duties are shared between Mike Harlen (bass), Alden Harris-McCoy (guitar), and Patrick Sargent (saxophone and keys), who take turns leading songs that speak to loss, self-preservation, and the disquieting nature of existing within a nation in flux. Their voices live in conversation with one another, offering subtle, omnipresent harmonies, leavened by additional vocals from Michael Fatum (trumpet) and Jamie Donald Eblen (drums).
The contrast between affecting lyrics and danceable grooves is compelling, but it’s the deeply felt creative partnership that makes Imperfectionism truly stand out. “Even when I can’t see clear, going on 20 years, I hold on for our love to be, and everything you mean to me,” Sargent croons weightlessly in the album closer, hinting at his-and his collaborators’-journeyman history of multi-hyphenate musicianship. It evokes the intimacy and simplicity of a tale told directly from his piano bench: “I won’t let you down, for anyone,” he concludes, and it feels like a glorious release. In spite of the splintering of the pre-pandemic musical world that the band once inhabited and its precarious aftermath, with Imperfectionism, The RT’s know who they are.