This month, Ra Ra Riot made their debut with the band’s first complete album, The Rhumb Line. The Syracuse-based five-piece delivers a collection of fast-moving, slightly dizzying tunes, with lead track “Ghost under Rocks” starting things off with a bang. Riot’s sound is largely a mixture between energetic drum backbeats and the band’s guitar/cello/violin trio, all topped off by the whiny vocals of Wesley Miles and John Pike. Likewise, notes of the band’s Barsuk label mates, Death Cab for Cutie, can be heard on The Rhumb Line‘s “Each Year,” which sounds suspiciously similar to Death Cab’s “Talking Bird.” But if nothing else, Ra Ra Riot’s full-length debut presents the music world with a distinctly gifted pop rock string ensemble.