Jeremy Rice and the Legendary Fist of Takinawa

“All that I need is a moment in time” begs Jeremy Rice in the opening line of his new single “Somebody Like You,” one of the star tracks on the album Jeremy Rice and the Legendary Fist of Takinawa, his voice aching with a sobering emotionality that is quite rare in mainstream pop anymore. There’s an honest, unwaveringly straightforward tone to Rice’s vocal in this song, and really all of the material that we hear on Jeremy Rice and the Legendary Fist of Takinawa, but he’s not mincing words with meandering pop melodies in “Somebody Like You.” For this artist, stories aren’t told through mere verses alone; every component in his work is utilized as a means of evoking a response from the audience, for better or worse (though, in this case at least, it tends to be for the better).

Instrumentally speaking, Jeremy Rice and the Legendary Fist of Takinawa isn’t a very complicated record – tracks like “Underneath the Ground” and “Beleev” don’t exactly reinvent the wheel with regards to the structure of a basic pop hook, but their grooves are attractive and memorable just the same. Though some of the content here is blatantly geared towards radio play, such as the rather saccharine and annoyingly swingy “Arriianne,” the majority of these compositions have some genuine feeling to them (“Johnny Rogers,” “Goodbye” and “Dream Tonight” are all grade A pop/rock with a splash of old school lyrical temperance).

Although it’s a tad generic when we strip it down to nuts and bolts, there’s nothing inauthentic about Jeremy Rice’s first record, and it’s definitely one of the more interesting debuts out of the Canadian underground lately. There’s more in the tracklist of Jeremy Rice and the Legendary Fist of Takinawa hinting at a bright future for Rice than there is evidence of him reaching superstardom before 2020 rolls around, but this is perhaps what makes it such a fun listen – this is an early look at a truly talented songwriter, and with just a little more polish and some cultivation of his skills, he could eventually become just about unstoppable in his scene and anywhere he ventures to.

Jodi Marxbury - DAILY POP NEWS

With a potent piano melody to lead the way, the leadoff single from Jeremy Rice’s debut album Jeremy Rice and the Legendary Fist of Takinawa, “Somebody Like You,” fills the air with an anxious rhythm and a subtle swing inside of a four minute pop track perfect for the autumn season. “Somebody Like You” is a relatively simple song, but what it lacks in complexity it more than makes up for in virtuosic harmonies, which blanket its lyrical content in rich textures that are so rarely found in contemporary indie rock anymore. Jeremy Rice pulls out all the stops to deliver a solid pop gem in Jeremy Rice and the Legendary Fist of Takinawa, and although it’s a bit rough around the edges, this is one debut LP I would tell any sensible indie enthusiast to check out this November just the same.

Every song on the record has a really warm feel to it, from the staggered string play of “Arriianne” to the reserved melody in “Nme,” but there’s something particularly special about the piano and guitar parts that magnify the emotion in Rice’s vocal throughout the tracklist. The exotic “Underneath the Ground” would be nothing without its ska-influenced fretwork, and although acoustic guitar charms are only one component in the big picture of “Dream Tonight,” they play as important a role as the percussion in “Johnny Rogers” and striking piano thrust in “Beleev” does with regards to making the music tangible to a mass audience.

I’m really looking forward to hearing more from Jeremy Rice in the near future. His songwriting skills are a bit unfiltered in tracks like “Goodbye” and “The Legendary Fist of Takinawa,” but there’s a surreal intimacy to his lyrics from start to finish in this record that make me very curious about what he’s going to produce once he grows into this sound a little more than he already has. He’s got plenty of competition waiting for him south of the border, but in terms of the Canadian underground, his is easily one of the more affectual debuts that I’ve had the pleasure of sampling from in the whole of the autumn season this year.

Garth Thomas - THE HOLLYWOOD DIGEST

In his new album Jeremy Rice and the Legendary Fist of Takinawa, Jeremy Rice establishes himself as a melody-driven poet with a knack for creating sensational pop hooks out of relatively simple song structures, and though the record’s lead single “Somebody Like You” has been getting the lion’s share of the press attention lately, it’s not the only track worth taking a second look at in this fantastic debut affair. Jeremy Rice and the Legendary Fist of Takinawa combines the fundamentals of pop with the aesthetical experimentations of a modern alternative rock movement, and its sound is anything but easy to categorize.

“The Legendary Fist of Takinawa,” “Somebody Like You” and “Arriianne” feature as powerful an instrumental wallop as they do a lyrical lashing, and though I would credit other songs here – like “Nme,” for example – with being a bit more physically engaging, this trio represents some of the more texturally communicative material on the entirety of the album. Rice is nowhere near content with using one means of getting his point across to us in this LP; for what he’s trying to do, there’s no reason why employing the melodies of a stern guitar and limber drumbeat in making a song as accessible to the listener as possible wouldn’t make sense.

The production quality here is really strong and well-varnished, but I would stop short of calling it drenched in the standard pop polish that we hear in most records of this variety. I get the idea that Rice was definitely trying to keep things as raw and real as possible in songs like “Johnny Rogers,” “Beleev” and “Dream Tonight,” and in removing as many of the frills between himself and the audience as possible, he made his narratives all the more relatable to us, regardless of whether or not we can appreciate the dexterity of a particular groove.

“Underneath the Ground” and “The Legendary Fist of Takinawa” cross me as being a little restrained compared to what they could possibly be in a live capacity, but I would have to see Jeremy Rice play them on stage to be certain. He definitely brings a really intriguing presence to this record, and if it were to carry over to his live tour schedule, there would be no guessing how far he could go with this energetic pop sound. Rice has spunk in an era that has had less than a kick to its mainstream rock beats, and this makes him an especially interesting find this November.

It’s a rough and tumble debut with plenty of room for stylistic improvement, but Jeremy Rice’s first record is still a must-listen if you enjoy smart Canadian indie rock with a forceful percussive beat. Jeremy Rice and the Legendary Fist of Takinawa is a homespun mix of rock n’ roll revelry and pop sophistication that has been condensed into a radio-ready package, but make no mistake about it – this is an LP that packs more of a punch than its sparkling cosmetics might have you believe, and with any luck it will only be the first of many hot releases we hear from Rice in the years to come.

Nicole Killian - MOBYORKCITY

Jeremy Rice’s improbably titled new release Jeremy Rice and the Legendary Fist of Takinawa is Rice’s first since relocating to Quebec City in 2016. It likewise reflects lessons learned from his time scoring television programs, video games, and commercials in addition to his pre-existing solo work and tenure with bands such as The Sellouts, The Thymes, and Timescore. There is a strong sense, however, of Rice elevating “his game” listening to this album. It delves deeper into his potential than any previous release and its vulnerability makes Rice’s musical skills all the more potent. The album’s first single “Arrilanne” garnered airplay across the globe including spots in the U.K., Spain, France, and his native Canada and the second single “Somebody Like You” is set to do the same along with its accompanying video.

The videos for both “Arrilanne” and “Somebody Like You” shows you can accomplish a lot in terms of visual accompaniment with limited budgets and an assortment of unostentatious good ideas. The album’s first cut, however, is “Johnny Rodgers”., a lyrically assertive number with a gentle yet insistent musical stride. It crescendos at the right times and uses keyboards well alongside skeletal guitar. The aforementioned “Arrilanne” and “Somebody Like You” make for an excellent one-two punch as the album’s second and third tracks. The former is the more guitar oriented of the two tracks and the latter is a dramatic pop gem cut to perfect scale with a buildup that never places a single foot wrong.

“NME” is, arguably, the cleverest bit of songwriting you’ll encounter on this release and one of its more guitar heavy entries. It’s notable how Rice incorporates rock influences into his music. Pop sounds are never far from the surface of his compositions and guitar blends in effortlessly giving the track teeth it would otherwise lack. “Beleev” is one of the more inspired cuts included on the release. It has curious kinetic energy, the percussive quality of the piano giving it additional punch, and Rice surprising listeners perhaps with his vocal flexibility.

The album’s title song, essentially, is the eighth track “The Legendary Fist of Takinawa”, a note perfect illustration of Rice’s songwriting imagination. It is a rollicking guitar fueled musical joyride and provides this vibrant collection with a thoroughly satisfying closer. Jeremy Rice has written and recorded one of the more captivating indie releases of 2019 with Jeremy Rice and the Legendary Fist of Takinawa.

Mark Druery - INDIESHARK

An ominous half-silenced strum of an electric guitar is stalking the shadows just itching to attack in “Johnny Rogers,” opening track on Jeremy Rice and the Legendary Fist of Takinawa. Jeremy Rice approaches the microphone with sincerity in his voice and angst in his heart, both of which become infused with the gliding riff as it unfolds into a slick pop hook. We’re not even four minutes into Rice’s first record, and it’s already impossible to fight the whirlpool of wispy melodies, all of which will get a little extra pizazz in the oncoming garage rocker “Arriianne.”

“Arriianne” is a rip-roar thrill ride for sure (as is the music video for the track), but it doesn’t have anything on the haunting melodicism contained within the single “Somebody Like You,” a quaint adult contemporary song tucked in between a slew of rock n’ roll tenacity. Smoldering beneath a subtle bassline and a sly piano part that gets in your head after only a casual listen, “Somebody Like You” has a chest-pounding rhythm that keeps our hearts pumping every moment it plays, and though “Nme” is just as valid a composition, it has a rough time filling the void left behind by this pop juggernaut.

“Underneath the Ground” takes a sensuous groove and stretches it out as to create a really eroticized background for Rice’s smooth delivery of the verses, and despite an abrupt change of tempo in the transition from this track to “Dream Tonight,” the two songs aesthetically represent the yin and yang of Jeremy Rice and the Legendary Fist of Takinawa consummately. Progressive pop is the main backbone of this record, but there’s a freewheeling singer/songwriter buried within the decadent details of tracks like “Dream Tonight” yearning for us to simply acknowledge him. The same can be said about “Beleev” and “The Legendary Fist of Takinawa,” both of which I’d love to hear in acoustic variations sometime.

Chiming acoustic guitars and a lush lead vocal from Jeremy Rice finish off what amounts to being one heck of a solid debut LP in “Goodbye,” the final song in Jeremy Rice and the Legendary Fist of Takinawa, but their lingering harmonies definitely make me wonder what’s going to come next for this young poet and composer. There’s a lot of different artistic directions he can go in from here, but I for one want him to stay focused on making quality pop songs in the style of “Somebody Like You,” which stands out as one of the best singles I’ve heard in a while from any artist, mainstream or indie. All in all, this is a good album to catch up with this autumn.

Anne Hollister - THE INDIE SOURCE

Angelic guitars and piano keys intertwine and dance without any inhibition in “Goodbye.” Those same guitars entertain a dangerous riff rock in “Nme” and “Arriianne” that couldn’t be any dirtier in tonality, but the melodies in these songs are as springy as what we’d find in “Underneath the Ground” and “Beleev.” Jeremy Rice can croon in full-color heartland harmony in “Johnny Rogers” just as well as he can spit punkish verses out in “The Legendary Fist of Takinawa,” but whether it’s the gold-tinted grooving of “Somebody Like You” or the elegant gaze of any other track on his debut album Jeremy Rice and the Legendary Fist of Takinawa, there’s something cool for everyone to cling to in this top shelf rookie LP from a very talented Canadian player.

While I really like the stylization of “Somebody Like You,” I think that the bread and butter of the Jeremy Rice sound is in the songs “Arriianne” and “Dream Tonight.” “Arriianne” is the electric freight train on Jeremy Rice and the Legendary Fist of Takinawa while “Dream Tonight” is the folk-rocking pop treasure that will get him into a larger conversation among American audiences this coming year, and together they show off just how much duality this man has in the recording studio. If he’s as good on the stage as he is in this capacity, tracks like “Goodbye” and “Johnny Rogers” would be even more engaging (and more stadium-shaking) than they are here.

A couple of kinks still need to be worked out in his formula, but I like the pop elements that are present in Jeremy Rice and the Legendary Fist of Takinawa enough to call it one of the smarter releases of its kind that listeners can get ahold of this November. No debut album is perfect, but for what Rice was trying to accomplish here – or at least how I interpret his narrative – he undeniably makes something that not only gets us acquainted with his sound but inspires some excitement for whatever he turns out of the studio next. Only time will tell for sure, but I think Jeremy Rice is going to have a lot going for him in the next year or so.

Kim Muncie - NEUFUTUR

2019 has been a so-so year for independent pop artists in the United States, but the same just can’t be said for Canada’s brood. In the north, artists like Jeremy Rice have been whipping up a storm of buzz with a new breed of easy-going, always sweet pop/rock that toes the line between vintage and futuristic, and its sound is brilliantly captured in the new album Jeremy Rice and the Legendary Fist of Takinawa. Led by the single “Somebody Like You” and pre-release teaser “Arriianne,” Jeremy Rice and the Legendary Fist of Takinawa takes us on a one of a kind adventure into the soulful mind of a young pop sensation.

URL: https://jeremyrice.net/video.html

The music video for “Arriianne,” not unlike most of Jeremy Rice’s debut LP, is simple and to the point, leaving all of the excesses and eccentricities to the side in favor of making the vibrancy of the music the main feature. There’s an eager beat that syncs up with the imagery in the video perfectly, but what really makes this piece a hot pick isn’t just its timing – it’s the total lack of bombast. Nowhere do we see any fluff, nor do we hear any in the soundtrack that’s pushing grooves at us left and right.

“Somebody Like You” is my favorite song from Jeremy Rice and the Legendary Fist of Takinawa, and it’s easy to see why it was chosen as the main single to promote the record’s release. The chorus is clean and pure, but the instrumental swagger surrounding it is fierce and uncompromisingly physical, which isn’t usually a combination that I hear in this strain of pop music. Rice’s American peers would do well to take note of this stimulating fusion; not to copy it per say, but definitely to learn from it in their own attempts at creating precise pop beats.

None of the songs on this album sound like filler to me – even the really basic stuff like “Nme,” “Goodbye” and Beatlesy “Beleev” have a lot of zealous energy and blistering muscularity in areas that a lot of artists in Rice’s class would normally ignore outright. Granted, I wouldn’t say that all of these tracks qualify as chart-topping material worthy of release in the single format, but there’s something really special about an LP where skipping through soft spots in the tracklist is never even considered. Jeremy Rice and the Legendary Fist of Takinawa is that kind of a record, and better yet, it comes with none of the pretentiousness that I’d assume it would.

I-TUNES: https://music.apple.com/ca/album/jeremy-rice-and-the-legendary-fist-of-takinawa/1479796320

I had never heard of Jeremy Rice prior to hearing this album for the first time over the last week, but I’m going to be paying a lot closer attention to both him and the Canadian underground because of his smashing debut. His sound is representative of an entire movement developing out of the north right now, and if either “Arriianne” or “Somebody Like You” are successful on the States’ side of the border this fall and coming winter, it’s going to be hard keeping American listeners away from his truly unique style.

Gwen Waggoner - SKOPE MAGAZINE

A furious striking of the piano triggers a deluge of harmonies as we listen in on “Beleev,” one of the nine tracks comprising the debut album from Jeremy Rice, Jeremy Rice and the Legendary Fist of Takinawa, but as sumptuous as these mighty melodic keys are, they’ve got nothing on the thirsty strum of electric pop guitar in “Johnny Rogers,” the opening salvo in this sexy rookie release. From this song all the way through to the acoustic ballad “Goodbye,” there’s no hitting the skip button in Jeremy Rice and the Legendary Fist of Takinawa, which is rightfully described as a virgin album that exceeds critical expectations and then some.

“Somebody Like You” is the first single from the record, and its tortured lead vocal perhaps sums up the mood of the entire tracklist better than any other moment in the album does. There’s a lot of black and white emotion in Rice’s words here, but they’re nothing without the unadulterated passion that he puts into every verse. “Arriianne” is similarly spectacular on the lyrical front, but even at its most poetic, there’s no dismissing the powerful instrumental melodies that it – and every track on this LP – contains in spades.

There are a few complexities too many in the construction of “The Legendary Fist of Takinawa,” but its fiery punk hook is undisputedly one of the most explosive fever pitches that this tracklist has to offer. Along with “Nme,” I think that it makes the most use of the spacious master mix in the record, but there’s also an argument to be made that “Dream Tonight” is the most complete composition here. Rice still has a few growing pains he needs to work out in his aesthetical development, but overall I really like the overall direction he’s taking with the sound on Jeremy Rice and the Legendary Fist of Takinawa.

Few debut albums challenge us to throw our perceptions of genre standards to the wayside as often as this first effort from Jeremy Rice does, but while it’s not the most consistent record I’ve heard this year, Jeremy Rice and the Legendary Fist of Takinawa is probably one of the more involved listens that serious pop connoisseurs can expect to discover before 2019 is over. He’s got a lot of critics left to please, but I think there’s enough in this album to suffice for some legitimate accolades for both creativity and honest ingenuity, at least within the realm of modern indie rock.

John McCall - TOO MUCH LOVE

Jeremy Rice’s latest release Jeremy Rice and the Legendary Fist of Takinawa opens with the pensive mid-tempo march of “Johnny Rogers”. It’s an excellent opening curtain for the release highlighting the textured manner of Rice’s compositional talents and his nasal yet expressive vocals. There’s no other track on the album that’s like it really – the first person point of view does an outstanding job of creating a character for listeners and the musical arrangement lends the right amount of impetus to his writing.

The second single “Somebody Like You” should have been its first. It’s a near perfect riff, both in terms of words and music, on the time-tested subject of unreciprocated desire and Rice’s subtlety allows him to layer it with a hint of melancholy it might have otherwise missed in other’s hands. For me, it is one of the album’s stand out moments and the video released for the track only accentuates its strengths.



“NME” has more vitriol to burn than many of the other tracks on this release and the sense of put upon desperation in its lyrics remains convincing throughout the cut. There are some backing vocals, however, sweetening its sour message. Rice dispatches this track at a much faster clip than the preceding numbers and his clever songwriting stands out here sharper than it has since the album’s opening number.

“Underneath the Ground” is a little weaker than the album’s other songs but solid nonetheless. “Beleev”, however, is every bit as inspired and individualistic as “NME” and the album opener and Rice takes the song places vocally that none of the previous songs hint as a possibility. “The Legendary Fist of Takinawa” begins with a keyboard fanfare before Rice revisits the brisk tempo of the earlier “NME”. He brings guitar more to the fore here than he has at any other point on the release. Keyboards mesh well with the acoustic guitars ringing out through the closer “Goodbye”, but the aforementioned “Legendary Fist of Takinawa” is the album’s true climatic number. The final two songs put an emphatic exclamation point on an engaging release from this Quebec City, Canada based performer.

Loren Sperry - MUSIC EXISTENCE 

Sizzling and loaded with a classic rock intensity in one track, supple and smooth with a taste of cosmopolitan pop chic in another, the strings that drive a lot of the best melodies in Jeremy Rice and the Legendary Fist of Takinawa are more than just a key element in Jeremy Rice’s debut album – they’re a cornerstone of its charm. Whether they’re guiding the grooves in “Johnny Rogers” and “Somebody Like You,” accenting the backdrop in “Underneath the Ground” and “Dream Tonight,” or projecting a wild harmony in “The Legendary Fist of Takinawa,” they’re as quintessential to Rice’s recipe for success as his charismatic serenades are (which on their own make his a record that you won’t want to miss this November).

The production quality in the chief single from Jeremy Rice and the Legendary Fist of Takinawa, “Somebody Like You,” is the most immaculate of any on the LP, but its polish doesn’t blanket over the edginess that its stinging hook has. Songs like “Beleev” and “Arriianne” have got just as much oomph as this track does, but what makes “Something Like You” the real prize of this album is its multilayered master mix; right out of the gate, we’re feeling the vibrations of every component in the music, no matter how seemingly insignificant or small. Rice builds up to the chorus and lets the harmony he makes with his backing band take over in the climax, and rather than leaving us totally swept away by the hook, we’re desperate to relive the excitement all over again. Like a bag of salty potato chips, you can’t take just one taste of Jeremy Rice’s debut album – it’s just too addictive a listen.

Pop grooves and heroic rock harmonies await all who pick up Jeremy Rice and the Legendary Fist of Takinawa this month, and if we can expect this LP to act as a standard for all of his work moving forward, Jeremy Rice is going to find a lot of fame waiting for him in the New Year and beyond. North American listeners are always in the mood for a melody magician of Rice’s caliber, and right now is an especially good time for his music to be filling Canadian airwaves with a much needed power pop-punch.

Samuel Pratt - ENTERTAINMENT EYES

From the jittery, palm-muted textures that greet us in “Johnny Rogers” to the glittery, soft harmonies that slowly disappear as “Goodbye” fades into the mist, Jeremy Rice’s debut album, Jeremy Rice and the Legendary Fist of Takinawa, is an awfully tough LP to put down once listeners embrace its myriad of melodic qualities, the most sterling of which might well be Rice’s own singing. Even in the ripping metallic piece “The Legendary Fist of Takinawa,” it’s his vocal that cuts through the distorted riff work with even more intensity than the bassline does. With a voice like his, Jeremy Rice doesn’t have to do much to impress in this stellar pop fantasy.

An acoustic guitar volley adorned with Dylan-style crooning beckons us closer to the poetic side of our singer’s talents in “Dream Tonight,” and next to the British-flavored piano pop of “Beleev,” it serves as one of the more breathtakingly unfanciful performances on the record. Rice swings harder in the latter than he does anywhere else on Jeremy Rice and the Legendary Fist of Takinawa, but I feel like it’s the acoustic balladry of the former that makes a bigger emotional and artistic impact of the two compositions.

Reggae-influenced fretwork channels shades of an 80’s hybrid pop as “Underneath the Ground” sinks its long hook into our chest midway through the tracklist, and along with its neighbor “Nme,” it creates a great segue from the simplistic first half of the LP and the more complex, intricately designed second. Personally I would have selected “Nme” as the first release from Jeremy Rice and the Legendary Fist of Takinawa over the equally alluring “Arriianne,” primarily because it’s a somewhat more involved listen that forces Rice to flex some real muscle behind the mic. They go well together on the record regardless, and would probably make for a good mashup live.

The main reason why people have been discussing Jeremy Rice and the Legendary Fist of Takinawa as much as they have been lately is rooted in the melodic throttling of the single “Somebody Like You,” and you needn’t give it more than a cursory examination to understand why. With a harmony that slowly but surely climbs a stairway into the heavens under the command of an anthemic lead vocal from Rice, it’s easily the crown jewel of the album and the best sampling of what this guy can do when there’s nothing holding him back. I hope to hear more like it in the future, and I doubt I’m the only critic saying so right now.

by Bethany Page - VENTS

Strings as soft as silk form a delicate, colorful harmony as “The Legendary Fist of Takinawa,” one of nine songs found of Jeremy Rice’s Jeremy Rice and the Legendary Fist of Takinawa, takes shape before us, but there’s a cloud of hesitation that follows its reverberating warmth. The fragile landscape is quickly shattered with the appearance of a chugging riff and a lumbering bassline in the background, and we soon discover an energetic surge of electricity in the lead vocal from Rice that can be found in every track he appears on in this debut LP (which, as you would guess, is all nine of them).

“Nme,” “Beleev” and the sterling singles “Arriianne” and “Somebody Like You” are really well-mixed pop songs with reliably crisp finishes and a strong focus on Rice’s singing abilities. There’s an interesting mix of standard, vocal-centric tunes and abrasive, almost punky pop/rock numbers of Jeremy Rice and the Legendary Fist of Takinawa, and though some might feel a little overwhelmed by all of the variety that the disc has to offer, I think that this is essentially what a good virgin outing should consist of – it’s the many layers of its artist’s personality on display all at once.

I would have stuck “The Legendary List of Takinawa” at the start of the album and put the combo of “Johnny Rogers” and “Arriianne” a bit closer to the end, but only to make this LP flow just a little better than it already does. In this current arrangement of the songs, it feels rather sprawling and difficult to process in a single sitting, but aside from that the content here is beefy, and even slightly over the top in a few instances (“Dream Tonight,” in particular, sparkles just a touch more than it really needs to).

The guitar parts in “Underneath the Ground” and “Arriianne” are a lot more rugged than they are anywhere else on the record, but it doesn’t disrupt the mood of the music at all – if anything, I actually think that it adds a touch of contrast where there would have otherwise been none. The only real problem Rice has in this album is recycling a familiar hook from one track to the next; if he can spread out the melodies a little more than he has in songs like “Somebody Like You,” he’s going to maximize his appeal to serious and occasional pop fans alike.

It’s nowhere even close to being a perfect debut, but Jeremy Rice and the Legendary Fist of Takinawa is a likeable LP with a strong pop center and a lead singer in the aforementioned Jeremy Rice who can really belt it out when it counts the most. There are a few growing pains that he can clearly get past between now and the next time he hits the recording studio, but by and large I would have to say that Rice has a lot to look forward to at this juncture of his career – provided he can keep making harmonies as powerful as the best ones we hear on this album, of course.

Sebastian Cole - GASHOUSE RADIO

uebecois singer/songwriter, Jeremy Rice recently released his new album, Jeremy Rice and the Legendary Fist of Takinawa. The latest single from the album is “Somebody Like You.” At its heart, the track is a poppy, piano-laden pop tune in the vein of Elton John. Rice’s background as a composer comes in handy with a gorgeous string arrangement that gives the track its epic feel. - SURVIVING THE GOLDEN AGE

In a captivating croon, singer Jeremy Rice gives us the opening stanza of his new single “Arriianne;”

I could stay awake all night to hear what’s on your mind / But you don’t really want to talk to me / And if you did you’d tell me of the emptiness inside / But that is not the way it has to be

and though his words are full of an energetic vitality that is tough to come by in modern pop music, they aren’t the main point of our focus in this track. Rice is back with his most muscular melodies thus far, and guitar buffs in particular are going to dig what his new single is really all about.

The video for “Arriianne” feels just a little forced and unimaginative compared to the music itself. The harmonies, and moreover, the crunch of the riffing that dominates the frontend of the mix are the real star of this show, and I suppose that by staying away from a really thrilling music video, Rice was able to keep our attention where it really belongs– on the carnal relationship between his poetry and the pummeling fretwork here.

Percussion is key to framing any decent rock or pop single, and this track has definitely got some excellent drum play. While the guitars are giving us a little funkiness up top, the beat is pushing the rhythm of the riffs to the very edge, subsequently creating a lot of extra excitement as Rice leads us into the chorus for the heavy hook waiting on the other side.

“Arriianne” is one of the more layered songs that I’ve listened to this month, but it’s also one of the more efficient (mostly because of the highly detailed work that Jeremy Rice clearly put into it).

I think that Rice could have pushed his vocal a bit more than he did in this track, but what he delivers in his performance is still attractive just the same. He’s capable of a lot, as he’s proven through previous projects in the Canadian underground, and I would really like to hear him give us just as much of himself in this latest vehicle that he’s developing.

Rice is a really strong singer with a tendency to adapt his style to whatever a particular composition happens to call for, and if he sticks to what he does best, he’s going to find a lot more success in this juncture of his career than he ever did in the past.

“Arriianne” is nowhere near perfect, but the right pieces are certainly here and actively engaging for listeners who live for fun, easily accessible pop/rock. I’m very interested in hearing his forthcoming solo debut Legendary Fist of Takinawa, and if it’s full of more material in the style of this track, I’m sure that I will have similar feelings about the LP as I do the single.

Jeremy Rice proves to be an intriguing character in this song for sure, and he’s an artist that I plan to continue following into the next decade.

Eric Jarvis - INDIEMUSICREVIEW

“From the first beat, ‘Somebody Like You’ demands your attention.
Full of energy, this track delivers vocally as well as melodically.
Jeremy Rice is an undeniable talent.” - LA ON LOCK

Take some old fashioned swing, give it a modern alternative overdrive, toss in just a pinch of garage rocking tonality, acquire a singer who can belt out just about anything and make it sound good and you’ll come up with something like “Arriianne,” the new single and music video from Canada’s Jeremy Rice that has been drawing a lot of attention to the singer/songwriter’s upcoming album Legendary Fist of Takinawa recently.

“Arriianne” is a multidimensional pop composition that has a lot in common with its American counterparts, and although Rice gave it a streamlined design, it doesn’t sound overly simplified at all. His brand of pop is a lot more extravagant than many of his Canadian peers’ is, but at the same time, it’s absolutely worth checking out if you’re a fan of the genre in general.


A lot of critics might take issue with this music video’s simple nature, but I actually like its total lack of excess. There’s no cinematic storyline or grandiose imagery producing concepts that have almost nothing to do with the actual content of the music; there doesn’t need to be. Jeremy Rice was smart to make this music video about the music exclusively, and if even half of his scene contemporaries were to follow his lead, there wouldn’t be any more room for debate as to whether or not the Canadian underground is just as powerful a source for talent as the American indie circuit is.

Summer is coming to an end, but listeners looking to keep the heat turned up need to check out what Jeremy Rice is cooking up in “Arriianne” and its parent album Legendary Fist of Takinawa. After a career that has taken him from bands like The Thymes and The Sellouts to this modern solo sound, Rice is stylizing himself as an OG hook master in this song and giving critics evidence of his skills without even a whiff of arrogance in his execution. “Arriianne” is a fantastically melodic pop single that does everything that we want a good pop song to do and then some.


SCOTT CARLITO - INDIEBANDGURU

Jeremy Rice doesn’t waste a stitch of time in his new single “Arriianne” before laying the big guitar melodies on as thick as he can and lacing his signature lush vocal into the reverberating rhythm that ensues. As surreal as it is jittery, the music video for the song is just as gripping as its source material is, and by the time that we get into Rice’s second stanza of lyrics, it becomes next to impossible for us to avoid the contagiously confident grooves and all of the danceable energy that they’re spreading like wildfire. “Arriianne” gets us started with a bang and never slows down for a second in its three and a half minutes of playing time.
The bassline is monolithic here, but it doesn’t sound excessive next to the other elements in the song at all. The drums collide with the low-end tones and force a lot of tension into the front of the track, but that ends up working to Jeremy Rice’s favor – with all of the intensity bubbling up beneath him, his powerful slew of poetic words in the chorus becomes even more cathartic than it already would have been. It’s calculated, but the construction of this piece is as far from cold as you can get without going to hell and back.

Thanks to the physicality of the master mix, there aren’t any speedbumps in the fluidity of the percussion, strings or Rice’s own velvety vocal. You could possibly make the argument that it would have been a bit more prudent to back off of the distortion on the bass, but I don’t think that I would change a single thing about the way that producers chose to treat this number. Jeremy Rice brings a lot of passion with him into the studio, and it’s reflected in the very presence of his band’s melodicism in “Arriianne.”
With an uncorked bottle of champagne and a riff as sharp as a piece of broken glass, “Arriianne” comes to a feverish conclusion, leaving in its wake a trail of echoing beats that would make even the most discriminating of music enthusiasts quite curious to hear the remainder of Jeremy Rice’s forthcoming debut solo album. Too often in the last few years, alternative artists with a knack for conjuring up easygoing grooves have shied away from embracing the pop influences in their sound, but that’s not the case with Rice’s latest look. He’s jumping into these chic pop melodies with both feet, and giving us plenty of reasons to keep an eye on his upcoming output.
Mindy McCall - IndiePulse Music

The sounds of Canada’s best indie artists have been shaking up the States quite a bit lately, and after listening to the new single from Jeremy Rice, it isn’t difficult for me to understand why at all. Rice has been described by some as one of the premier melodic pop singers in his scene, and in the song “Arriianne,” he fires off some signature stylishness in a bold vocal that cuts to the core of what superior indie pop was always meant to sound like. With a voice like his, it doesn’t take much to melt hearts, and he demonstrates his skillset beautifully here.

There’s a lot of throttling guitar play in “Arriianne” that goes completely unchecked in the mix (yielding quite a bit of indulgent chaos that I haven’t been able to get enough of), but it meets a forceful match in the similarly potent percussive track and its shadow, the bassline. It’s been hard to find this kind of riffing in the American underground recently, and that could explain why singles like this one have been doing as well with stateside listeners as they have been. This song has tons of zip and energy, but its main squeeze is its gargantuan, distorted grooves.

One thing that you won’t hear in the whole of this track, and the music video for “Arriianne” for that matter, is trace elements of an electronic influence – there are none. Where scores of his contemporaries are making the studio itself into an instrument with every shred of material that they compose, Jeremy Rice is doing the opposite in this song and, in essence, setting himself apart from those who would seek to destroy organic pop and true rock n’ roll as we know it. The beats are danceable without any extra fuzz or ornate grinding, and thus, they justly deserved to be left alone.
From the way that this single was structured, I think it would make for an excellent jam in a live setting. There’s room for its bolder parts to be expanded and manipulated into a seven-minute opus if the players saw fit – once again, mostly because of the dynamic style of the guitar play – but it could just as well be performed as-is (or even a touch faster) and make a big statement in the spotlight of any club, large or small. Rice shows us that he has the zany energy it takes to get a packed concert hall behind him in the video, and I can’t wait to see his show for myself at some point.

Of all the new singles that I’ve heard this September, this is probably my favorite from the Canadian side of the border. Jeremy Rice has almost no name recognition in the United States right now, but I can absolutely see “Arriianne” finding a lot of favor among college radio crowds as we transition into autumn. He’s got the voice, the vibrancy and the virtuous ideals that all pop stalwarts do, but a charismatic personality that is his and his alone in this amazingly straight-forward rocker.

Gwen Waggoner - Skope

One of the more integral elements in the new single from Jeremy Rice, “Arriianne,” is undeniably its monstrous drumming, which essentially serves to bring all of the eclectic loose-ends in the string play together in a singular harmony without boxing the girth of the melodies into a predictably poppy gallop. Rice navigates the thick channels between the grooves with incredible precision, rattling off verses that reflect the adrenaline of the beat in their urgency, and as sonically intricate as the track is, there aren’t any complications in its fluid structure. Of all the angular pop songs to debut this summer, this is actually one of the more classical in its delivery, and more importantly, its design.

I’ve never found lyrics to be an essential component to making a good pop song, but that doesn’t matter in “Arriianne;” both in instrumentation and in verse, this is a composition that is as in-depth and solid as I would expect a more expansive progressive rock suite to be. I don’t know that Rice was trying to make his words the crown jewel of this track, but he definitely took the time to sort out the narrative that he was trying to convey through the prose he employed here (which isn’t always the case with up and coming pop musicians).
It would have been awesome to hear just a little more bass out of the master mix, but it’s a totally forgivable offense when considering what Jeremy Rice was probably trying to create in this single. “Arriianne” isn’t surreal per-say, but it’s unquestionably outside of the mainstream style of melodicism that a lot of his rivals have been playing with in both Canada and the United Kingdom recently. If he was attempting complete efficiency incarnate, he’s definitely hitting the mark in this song and even more so in its music video.

Jeremy Rice is doing his part to make indie rock great again in “Arriianne,” and I believe that pop fans and alternative connoisseurs alike will find its sexy string parts to be some of the better material out this September. Legendary Fist of Takinawa isn’t out yet, but it’s rightly getting a lot of accolades through the release of its first single, which could be the most buzzed-about song that Rice has stamped his name on since he first came to the attention of critics years ago. There’s still a ways to go, but he’s doing what he has to do to make a big splash this season – and sounding chiller than ever before in “Arriianne.”

by Loren Sperry - Vents Mag

Canadian songwriter Jeremy Rice is garnering a ton of buzz this September, and it’s undoubtedly because of the new music video for his single “Arriianne.” With a colorful cast of characters that include five forest green sock puppets, the video for “Arriianne” is a creatively black and white revival of old school rock n’ roll swing flanked with a contemporary surrealism that binds all of its most eclectic components together in a nice, neat package. In terms of sheer energy, it’s absolutely one of the most electrifying releases to come out of Rice’s scene in a long time.

Its charming music video aside, “Arriianne” is a really solid pop song that doesn’t rely on any of the typical techy tricks, bells and whistles that have become somewhat standard in modern mainstream music. Rice doesn’t conceal his vocal behind any larger than life beats or some sort of outrageously overdriven riffing – he’s up at the forefront of the mix, obliterating the very notion of hesitation with a swaggering execution that is reason enough to pick up a copy of this track right now. He knows who he is as an artist at this point in his career, and his confident attack makes this composition all the more intoxicating from start to finish.
I think it would be interesting to hear a slightly grainier mix of this song in which the garage rock undertones were more amplified than they are in this current version. There’s a lot of aggression lying just beneath the poppy varnish in “Arriianne,” and it would be a shame for Rice to avoid exploiting it for everything that it’s worth. If he’s able to explore a punkier side of his sound with credible results in the future, he could easily become one of the more unique artists in his peer group on either side of the CanAm border come 2020.

The percussion in this track has a lot of swing that reminds me of the iconic midcentury pop that laid the groundwork for some of rock’s most important groups, from The Beatles to the Pixies, but I don’t think that it’s steeped in the same throwback culture that a lot of hipster acts have been indulging in as of late. Jeremy Rice is making it overwhelmingly clear to us in “Arriianne” that he has no interest in marching to the beat of someone else’s drum; he’s blending tradition with a tenacious Millennial rebellion here, and subsequently sounding wise beyond his years.
There is no shortage of incredible music coming from the Canadian underground at the moment, and among my favorite artists, the accomplished Jeremy Rice currently reigns supreme. Rice doesn’t hold anything back from us lyrically or instrumentally in this track and its moxie-powered music video, and even if neither are the most elaborate that you’re going to hear or see this season, they’re undisputedly filler-free and guaranteed to put a smile on any groove-lovers face just the same. We’re living in a pivotal period in the history of pop, and artists like this one are defining the future of the genre with intrepidly forward-thinking concept songs like “Arriianne.”

Mark Druery - Indie Shark

Like a wild wolf howling at the moon, the electric guitar that blasts a hole through the first ten seconds of Jeremy Rice’s “Arriianne” is intimidating, familiar and rife with intensity. The drums click into place and leave just enough space for the bassline to fill the background with warm tonality, and even before Rice starts serenading us with a punkish might, there’s a seditiousness to the undercurrent of percussion pushing and shoving its way into the mix. With a spunkiness also found in the music video for “Arriianne”, the track moves forward on the back of a violent rock beat that, were it not joined to a soft, lush harmony, would be a little harsher than what I’ve heard in any indie rock song lately.

Jeremy Rice’s voice scales the mountains that the melodically-pleasing riffing piles in front of him, and though he backs off of the gas in the chorus, he never comes across to us as hesitant for even a second. He’s giving it to the audience as hard as he can with the microphone, but his backing band is getting just as into their part in creating this charged pop juggernaut; Rice always remains the main feature of the song and video for “Arriianne,” but he doesn’t have any trouble sharing the instrumental stage with his more than capable bandmates. This isn’t his first rodeo, and he’s exhibiting a maturity in this track that I’d really like to see more of in current popular music.

We come careening to a halt with “Arriianne” after a little over three minutes of Rice throwing everything that he has in his bag of tricks at us, and in both the video and the single itself, there’s a sense of unfinished business that hangs over the conclusion as if to say this story hasn’t been fully told. We’ll likely get a string of sequels hopefully as good as this initial offering is in Jeremy Rice’s new solo album Legendary Fist of Takinawa, and if they indeed live up to the high standard set by this song, it’s going to be one of the more important LPs to be released this autumn.

Kim Muncie - Neufutur

A sizzling riff crashes into a wall of percussive might and somehow finds an evenhanded rhythm as we descend upon the groove-laden valley of melodies that is Jeremy Rice’s new single “Arriianne,’ but as the track gains momentum over the next sixty seconds, the discordant backdrop takes a different shape as the commanding lead vocal swallows up the lion’s share of the spotlight. Rice turns in a gem of a song in this track, which I would describe as being as close to a perfect blend of sugary pop and spicy indie rock as I’ve heard in the whole of 2019, and taking into consideration just how strong a year it’s been for independent Canadian artists, that’s no small statement to make by any means.

The music video for “Arriianne” is pretty simple, stripped-down and unfanciful (especially when compared to some of the other content that I’ve seen out of the underground this summer), but it doesn’t feel even remotely incomplete. I get the impression that Jeremy Rice appreciates the concept of “less is more” when I look at these simplistic shots which were strung together in what amounts to a fun singalong-style sequence that is as infectious as the main beat in the track is. By keeping things at their most fundamental and choosing to focus more on the substance of the songcraft than he ever does the visual elements, he not only distinguishes this solo project from its closest rivals but in fact sets this latest phase of his career apart from any other to precede it.

Fans of minimalist melodies skewed with bright vocal work would be smart to give the new Jeremy Rice single/video a combo a close listen this September, as it most definitely represents a new creative highpoint for the artist responsible for its conception. There are a few admittedly rough edges to the stylization of the harmonies, but rather than trying to snuff them out in future recordings, I for one hope to hear Rice experiment with their depth and potential.

“Arriianne” presents us with a very cut and dry pop/rock framework that has just a hint of grit in its finish, and when examining the current musical climate of 2019, it’s safe to say that it’s a one of a kind product facing little – if any – serious competition from the mainstream.

John McCall - Too Much Love

At once both sonically jarring and startlingly focused, the riff-rocking guitar parts that comprise the basis for the central melody in “Arriianne,” the new single from Canada’s own Jeremy Rice, have a habit of provoking just as much hip-swinging as any of the fuzzy-bassline or brutish percussion’s grooving does – and that’s something I just haven’t been able to say for the majority of new indie rock tracks emerging from the underground this year. Fiery fretwork meets its match in a vicious vocal harmony that is certain to induce chills on contact in this song and its music video, both of which were designed for those whose summer has been missing a charismatic pop beat.

Rice’s vocal track could have used just a bit more oomph than it received from the master mix in the grander scheme of things in “Arriianne,” but the substance of his performance is actually quite strong. I’d really like to hear what he can do with his voice when there’s no restrictions placed in front of him, and with any luck he’ll take a more liberal approach to the soundboard in any future endeavors that are as lyric-driven as this particular composition happens to be.
While it’s rather lacking in aesthetical complexities, “Arriianne” doesn’t feel or sound like an unbearably basic pop tune – quite the contrary, actually. The cosmetics are glowing in this track (in contrast, the music video is a lot more DIY in nature), and I think that they more than compensate for any stylistic shortcomings such as the mild predictability within the prose. This is new territory for Jeremy Rice, and though he’s still got plenty of room for improvement and creative growth, there’s definitely no denying that he’s sounding really on-point and in his element in this track and its video. When you’ve got genuine talent, you don’t need a lot of frills to create a haunting harmony that sticks with listeners long after the music stops playing, and he essentially proves that here.

If you’re keen on efficient Canadian pop with loads of crossover potential, Jeremy Rice’s new material should be considered a must-listen this month. There are a couple of infinitesimal issues with the way that “Arriianne” is structured, but they’re definitely not the sort of hitches that I would deem inexcusable for an artist of his caliber. He’s got a unique style that’s still finding its footing (even in the course of the recording process), and given a little more time and cultivation, my gut tells me it’s going to be something really special.

Anne Hollister - The Indie Source

Numbers, letters, some carefree dancing and a few sock puppets are thrown into a singular melting pot of melody and marvelous grooves in the music video for Jeremy Rice’s new song “Arriianne,” but for as eclectic a collection of imagery as it is, this is one video that appeals more to conventional pop standards than it does anything occupying the left side of the dial right now. In employing a familiar sway and a lively, blues-based guitar pattern that forces listeners to embrace the tonality of the music as much as they are the lyrics, Rice produces a composition in “Arriianne” that is primed for a generation of listeners that demand a lot of layered textures out of their favorite artists, and I think that’s why it’s causing the stir that it is at the moment.

I absolutely adore the harmonies in this track. Though every one of the individual instrumental elements makes a decent contribution to the mood of the music, the chemistry between the warm strings and the wildly flamboyant vocal from Rice is the unparalleled true centerpiece above all else here. He comes on strong enough with his discharge of the verses that there’s really no room for the bassline to fill in the gaps with its overdriven bluster; the percussion takes up that role instead, affording the guitar parts all the more space to connect with the timbre of Rice’s voice in an organic cocktail of color and croon. It’s smart songwriting if I’ve ever heard it, and a sublime example of this indie star’s skills in action.

Only time will tell for certain, but something tells me that this is only a glimpse into what’s next to come from Mr. Jeremy Rice as he embarks on this next chapter in his professional story. “Arriianne” is an ambitious music video and a wholesome song that doesn’t ask us to adapt our perception of what pop music is supposed to sound like in order to appreciate its rare grandiosity – this is a straight-up groove tune that was cut from the same cloth that so many of the North American songbook’s best songs have been. I’m eager to hear more, and I doubt that I’m the only music journalist saying as much.

Sebastian Cole - Gashouse Radio

Jeremy Rice is a musician, composer, producer and obsessive creator now based in Quebec City. He moved there in 2016 for a fresh start. Already having loads of experience in the music industry he was keen to go on a “creative self-reinvention”. Jeremy Rice and the Legendary Fist of Takinawa is the result. The sound that he has created is what I consider to be one of the best sounds in the indie genre right now. With interesting vocals and a song that is meaningful, his new single called ‘Arriiane’ ticks all my boxes for a song to share. Take a listen here to ‘Arriiane’ and keep an eye out for new releases Jeremy Rice and the Legendary Fist of Takinawa. - Music Injection