Live, In Review: Ritchot Textiles
Ritchot Textiles W/ Pike
Live at The Aviary, Edmonton, April 3rd/2025
Starting over is hard. When you’ve been in a relationship with other people for multiple years, working towards a collective goal and it ends, you can toss in the towel or start anew. I cannot begin to express how happy I was to hear that three quarters of the band known as Blessed had a new project called Ritchot Textiles. Drew, Mitchell, and Ruby have progressed beyond what Blessed were by adding electronics to the signature mathy-post-punk-art-rock from their previous project. These are seasoned pros of playing complicated music live and as they rolled through Edmonton on a lovely Spring Wednesday night, I was very interested to see how the new project was going to sound in a live environment.
Local openers, Pike played a great warm-up set on a rare two band bill. I can’t begin to tell you how great it is to see only two bands on a Wednesday night and be home before eleven. Every single show that is not on a Thursday, Friday, or Saturday should take up this approach. Anyway, old dude rants aside, after Pike finished their set which was highlighted by some new songs that sounded great, Ritchot Textiles took to the stage.
There’s something incredibly refreshing about seeing a tiny indie touring band that pays attention to their stage show. I was expecting this band to sound great because I was very familiar with how good Blessed was live but I was truly shocked to behold the power that Ritchot Textiles commanded on their first ever tour. With their own personal lighting setup, they enhanced the mood of their trance inducing art-rock sound. Red light soaked the stage as they powered through “Weight” from the debut EP. It sounded massive but felt ethereal with the help of the red light that fluttered to the beat during the song's most poignant moments. Between songs they’d play pre-recorded clips of highly recognizable clips like the X-Files theme. No such interlude worked as well as moving from Mr Rogers “Won’t You Be My Neighbour?” to “Coward” from their debut EP. It was pure magic. I went into this show expecting it to be good but left surprised at just how great it actually was. Ritchot Textiles is the next musical chapter for Drew, Mitchell, and Ruby. Apparently, this is the “plot-twist” chapter that slaps you upside the head because you thought the story was winding down, instead you’re left wondering if the narrative has, just now, truly begun.
- Jeff MacCallum