Riding the Low “Riding the Low Are Here to Help the Neighborhood” 2016. Jackpot Records, limited edition blue vinyl. UK alt-pop and a little bit jangly, Riding the Low Are Here to Help the Neighborhood is the band’s second LP and the first to be released in the US. Riding the Low is fronted by actor Paddy Considine who has been in a ton of movies (the ones I’ve seen: 24 Hour Party People and Hot Fuzz but it could be more, I have a horrible memory for films I’ve seen) and he is currently filming for House of the Dragon, a Game of Thrones prequel. Until this moment, I was completely unaware of Riding the Low’s existence – a student of mine gifted me this record for Christmas knowing my affinity for most things alt-Brit and, of course, vinyl records. The record is enjoyable, though a tad bland for my tastes; one reviewer describes it as “fill[ing] the under-catered to middle-aged market,” though to be fair that writer does not necessarily mean it as a total slam against the band or the record. Riding the Low seems to have a self-awareness about their demographic, too: in the song “The Sentiment Now” Considine sings “Are we too old for their sentiment now…I’m getting old and I wanna sit down.” While I begrudgingly admit to falling neatly into that target market, I still really prefer to rock out. Fortunately there are a fair number of rocking moments, like on the tracks “Battle of the Unnatural Law,” “Sally Street Team,” the heavy “The Greatest Blast” and my favorite song on the LP, the all-out banger “Heed.” There’s also some good tension in the excellently-named “Bleeding Eyes at Breakfast” and I quite like the titles “The Piss Parade” and “Beer Tears” which is fairly quiet, acoustic-ish and sad; they did a Zoom-performance of it in 2020 during the lockdown.