Print December 22, 2020

Single & Video Review: Modern Leisure – “Rita”

by Gabe Allen

Modern Leisure has, once again, harnessed millennial malaise and channeled it into an achingly beautiful 3-minute track. According to the band, the newest single “Rita” is a thesis statement for the series of singles they have released throughout 2020 on the whole.

A driving four-on-the-floor beat and shoegazey layers of clean guitar create a melancholy soundscape fitting for the song’s sentiment of grasping at the fleeting freedoms of young adulthood. For a coming-of-age song, it’s surprisingly mature.

The accompanying video flits between literal interpretations of the song’s lyrics and deadpan performances by the band. The video shoot wrapped on March 16, the day before Denver Mayor Michael B. Hancock banned gatherings of more than 50 people.

“We think of this video as a time-capsule of life before the massive shit-storm of 2020,” the band tells Bandwagon.

Mid-shitstorm, the song’s nostalgia for a bygone simpler time, filled with concerts and carelessness, hits home.

Watch “Rita” below and support Modern Leisure directly by purchasing their music at modernleisure.bandcamp.com – click here.