Riddles is a full-length collaboration between Ed Schrader’s Music Beat and Dan Deacon. Ed Schrader's Music Beat needed to make this record. 19 tours in the U.S. since the Baltimore-based duo’s formation in 2010, from headlining underground spaces to opening massive venues for Future Islands, had left vocalist Ed and bassist Devlin Rice exhausted - and hungry to take their music to the next level. Ed and Devlin dreamed of a fuller sound - layered, breathing arrangements their early rapid-fire compositions always seemed to imply, without yet having the tools to realize. On Riddles, their first release for Carpark, the Music Beat begins their new life. In search of a fresh direction, Ed and Devlin invited their close friend, electronic-pop maestro Dan Deacon, to expand their sound and experiment with them as the album’s producer, arranger, and co-writer. Working steadily in Dan’s studio for two years in total collaboration, three evolving musicians pushed through an intense period of personal tumult and found purpose in the sounds they were committing to record. The result: a polished and passionate masterpiece of nuanced alt-rock. From driving opening track Dunce and the soaring single Riddles to the disarmingly gorgeous closer Culebra, Ed and Devlin unapologetically channel a personal pantheon of pop and rock gods while growing into the band - and people - they’d previously kept caged inside. CD - 4-Panel Digipak. LP - Red and Gold Starburst Vinyl.
