In the modern musical landscape, it’s rare to find a band that stays together, committed to a collective vision. Conservatory-trained musicians (the five met in college studying jazz performance), the RT’s cut their teeth holding residencies at peanut shell-strewn bars across NYC and touring international jazz circuits. They built their reputation on delivering high-energy performances and recorded studio albums in pursuit of faithfulness to the endorphin rush of their live show. Driven by a pop-forward, synth-infused sound, The RT’s songwriting is intimate and eclectic, unfettered and experimental. Always genre-bending, the fuzzy-toned guitar and hip hop-inspired percussion spur a psychedelic undercurrent, while restrained horns gesture toward their jazz-inspired past. It’s a dancefloor record with an eye toward introspection. The resulting sound is a little new wave, a little retro, and undeniably groovy. Over the course of their ten-plus-year history, The RT’s have placed collaboration at the center of their creative doctrine. Primary vocal duties are shared between Mike Harlen (bass), Alden Harris-McCoy (guitar), and Patrick Sargent (saxophone and keys), who take turns leading songs that speak to loss, self-preservation, and the disquieting nature of existing within a nation in flux. Their voices live in conversation with one another, offering subtle, omnipresent harmonies, leavened by additional vocals from Michael Fatum (trumpet) and Jamie Donald Eblen (drums).