EP Premiere: The Rayes’ ‘Two Legs’ Is a Kiss of Sonic Sunshine

Sweet, warm, and earnest, The Rayes’ ‘Two Legs’ EP is a kiss of sonic sunshine – a musical hug at a time when we could all use a little more love and connection in our lives.

Stream: “Two Legs” – The Rayes

Sweet, warm, and earnest, The Rayes’ new EP is a kiss of sonic sunshine – a musical hug at a time when we could all use a little more love and connection in our lives. With bright melodies and glittering folk harmonies, The Rayes’ Two Legs EP offers a heartwarming indulgence and welcome escape this winter.

Straight to the sea, where living is easy
Look at me, I’m not alone now
No way, no how

You’re not alone, you’re not alone, you’re not alone
You wild thing, you’re not alone, you’ve found a home
You’re not alone, you crazy thing, you’re comin’ home

The world is breaking down
Momma where do we go now

Where the hills are rolling green
Strum this guitar and you’ll see just what I mean
You’re not alone now
No way, no how

Atwood Magazine is proud to be premiering The Rayes’ Two Legs EP, out everywhere December 11, 2020. Hailing from Seattle, Washington, siblings Rebecca and Jordan Stobbe began releasing music as The Rayes in 2016. Influenced by classic rock, pop, and folk, the duo draw comparisons to such ’70s soft rock staples as Fleetwood Mac or Bread, as well as modern indie pop acts like New York sibling trio Bailen. They have released two EPs – one in 2016 and one in 2019 – and released their debut album, Charlie and the Rays, in 2018. Following the standalone singles “For No One” and “There Goes My Baby” earlier this year, Two Legs arrives as a three-track acoustic record ready to replace the blues with some more uplifting hues; the duo poetically describe it as being “birthed from the inspiration whittled from soft sunlight beaming onto bedroom walls and moods of resistance and desire.” Harmony reigns supreme atop dramatic harmonica blares and earthen acoustic guitar chugs; this is folk pop at its most honest – a set of songs ready for the campfire.

“I found that each time a lyric came to mind, or I sat down to write a song, it was about the sea,” The Rayes’ Jordan Stobbe tells Atwood Magazine. “So the first line of the first song on the record is appropriately, ‘straight to the sea, where living is easy.’ Whether it was in the form of wings, legs, or words, I found these were the lyrics relentlessly pouring out of me — all vehicles to bring me back to the sea. Sometimes I think things, they bubble up inside of me and I can’t move past them until I get them out in song. Thus, is the case with the themes and feelings behind these. I think I didn’t even realize just how connected I am to the ocean, specifically the Puget Sound and the Salish Sea, until I moved away from the West Coast to New York. Suddenly, I went from being surrounded by a sea of pine trees and water to a sea of concrete and bricks, and it affected me mentally more than I had anticipated it would.”

“We search for a vibrancy – an electric vibration in things, a feeling that harnesses the true magic in life; I believe this is something you can find in so many places, whether it be the beauty of a sunrise over a farmhouse, or a connection between you and a stranger at a coffee shop. It’s this magic, this internal thrill, that draws us to the places and people we desire. This record was written from a longing for this energy — whether it be a yearning for the Pacific NW that I was missing so much, a time of playful romantics with a lover, or achieving freedom from the social chains that bind and oppress us.”

I look around
And what do I see
Got a lotta walls blockin’ our will to be free
Well I try to change we do change
And what does it mean
It wont work ‘less it’s the whole damn thing

They say a mountain starts with a stream
But it slips past me straight to the sea
Well I try to change we change our face
And what does it mean
It won’t work ‘less it’s the whole damn thing

The Rayes certainly captured vibrancy in these three songs. “You’re Not Alone” is an earnest, sincere song of empathy and togetherness stretching across barriers and boundaries. “Two Legs” is folky take at physical connection, and “Melanie Song,” perhaps the most inspired of the lot, is an achingly visceral reflection on progressive thought versus action.

Though it may be short in time, Two Legs leaves its listeners pleasantly sated and eager for more from the Seattle duo and their darling harmonies. Experience the full record via our exclusive stream, and peek inside The Rayes’ Two Legs EP with Atwood Magazine as Rebecca and Jordan Stobbe go track-by-track through the music and lyrics of their latest release!

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Stream: ‘Two Legs’ – The Rayes

:: Inside Two Legs ::

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You’re Not Alone

“This first track on our new record is a song of solace. I (Jordan) actually started writing it a couple weeks before the COVID lockdown in March, but it became even more relevant during quarantine. I was going through (and to be honest, still am!) a very sad and lonely period of my life, and this song came about as I was trying to build a home within myself, and find solace in the fact that loneliness is just a normal human condition, and maybe if we accept it instead of fight it, we can find a greater peace with it. As it turns out, finding this peace might in and of itself, be the triumph.”

Two Legs

“This song represents the lighthearted and rosy side of desire. The side that is simple. The side that yearns for the most basic human need: touch. Might it be a warm hand on your cheek, or a body flush against yours. A time of confidence, when things felt less complicated. It felt good to capture this in a song, because in my (Jordan’s) life, as you might be able to relate, these periods always seem to scurry away just as they started to feel sturdy.”

Melanie Song

“This is one of those tunes that has been in my (Rebecca’s) mind and in my “song vault,” if you may, for years. I wrote the full song two years ago and didn’t end up changing one thing about the structure or lyrics — only added other instruments when recording, but the core of it remained true for years. It was born out of frustration and almost exasperation from this idea that individual actions are the golden rule for widespread change. Stop the climate crisis? Just eat vegan and buy a bike. (“A drop in the bucket, a hand in the crowd, it’s all that they preach.“) I do agree that individual, personal change within our culture is a big part of the solution — but sometimes, these global problems require an entire dismantling of the system, flipping reality on its head. It bothers me that people dig themselves into holes making sure their individual actions are perfectly honest, sustainable, respectful — when really, what we might need is for all those motivated people to come together and organize to make change together. This song is sort of a call to action, to rethink change and revolution.”

Stream: ‘Two Legs’ – The Rayes

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art © Sinje Tahnee

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