Rainbow Kitten Surprise (yes, the name is impossible to ignore and yes, it comes from a friend of the band’s post-surgery-and-morphine-loopy mind) make music that makes people really want to make comparisons to Frank Ocean. Those people basically mean that Rainbow Kitten Surprise sound soulful, deep, and they tend to write songs that combine elements of rock music and hip-hop in fairly unexpected ways. The five piece group, who all met while attending college in Boone, NC, have spent the years since their 2013 debut Seven + Mary building a strikingly passionate following through sheer Bandcamp-driven force of will, and songs like the burning and yearning "Fever Pitch", from this year's How to: Friend, Love, Freefall, feel like the triumphant work of a band unafraid to be anybody but itself.
Today Rainbow Kitten Surprise are premiering a new stripped-down version of that song, complete with a performance visual to match. It’s a fitting choice for a band that’s generated an outsize amount of love for its tight, high-energy live shows, and sure enough, frontman Sam Melo’s acrobatic shifts between left-field R&B and rap verses sound just as mellifluously delicious in this back-to-basics format as they do on the studio originals. The visual follows the band in long, slow takes, highlighting each member's well-honed chops as they rock out inside a shabby, yet cozy-looking mansion. RKS look like they're having the time of their lives, and to be honest it would make for an amazing house show, if only there was an audience. Good thing we have this visual, so at least we’re not left out. Watch the full video above.
Rainbow Kitten Surprise is current out on tour in support of How To: Friend, Love, Freefall which is out now on Elektra Records. Check the full tour schedule here.