Riverby Reveal ‘Smart Mouth’ Video

Earlier this year, Take This to Heart Records welcomed Philadelphia’s Riverby to the roster. Their debut LP “Smart Mouth” may be a 2020 release, but it’s indebted to the jagged confessions of the nineties and this millennium’s malleable cross-section between pop-punk and indie-rock. The band have now released the music video for the album’s title track, an affair entirely produced by the members themselves in lockdown. Riverby are donating all proceeds from this release to Act Blue for national bail funds to support protestors and the incarcerated during this long fight for justice and racial equality. The Punk Site review of “Smart Mouth” can be read here and you can stream and purchase the album here.

You can check out the ‘Smart Mouth‘ video below

The ‘Smart Mouth’ video is, simply, a step into absurdity. A calendar in the background marks ‘March 2020’, an ode to when time seemed to stop in its tracks for just a moment. The video starts out soft and glowing, a band taking turns in what looks to be an uncomfortable performance in front of people who aren’t really there — a metaphor for the livestreams and artificial shows bands must now partake in to achieve any source of relevance. It slowly builds into a swell of chaos — what starts off as an innocent tarot reading becomes almost sinister as the last card, Death, is pulled. It stands for change, rebirth. The narrator finds themselves elbow deep in a cake symbolizing their own accomplishment. They are destroying it to make way for something new. The video is a testament to abrupt change, jarring transitions, and is an ode to how to have your cake and eat it too.