Words: Slade Rand
Photos Courtesy: River Spell
Colorado’s River Spell releases its debut album today, a standout project capping two years of the band melding together and chasing songs up in the Rockies.
The eponymous “River Spell” is a seven-track, 38-minute exploration of Front Range sounds that highlights creative songwriting and a proportioned groove shared by the four friends. They make deeply original music about lifelong hopes, doubts and connecting to the moment. Click here to listen to the new music.
“Can’t always trust the things that you’ve been knowing; I guess it’s true that what don’t kill you helps you grow then,” Grant Livingston sings on ‘Buckeye’ from the new album.
River Spell is Livingston on vocals and acoustic guitar, Ben Maillaro on electric guitar, Jake Demarco on bass and Zack Ritchie on drums and percussion. The quartet bonded during the past couple years with voracious gigging and experimenting since finding each other in 2022.
“I think we’ve played over a hundred shows together at this point, and I still manage to be surprised by each member every single night,” Maillaro told After Midnight this week. “It’s important to stay on your toes when you’re playing improv-heavy music, and these guys make it easy.”
The band played its first-ever show in March 2022 at the Knotted Root taproom in Nederland before hitting Colorado and Wyoming mountain towns for consistent gigs through the next year. River Spell played nearly 30 shows on its Fall 2023 tour, and is now on the road with another two dozen Colorado dates along a Winter 2024 run.
“I feel like we can always tell where each of our heads are at on particular days. That comes with playing so much together but also all being really close friends,” Demarco said. “We all know if someone’s having a good or bad day just by what they’re playing.”
River Spell plays Warren Station in Keystone on March 2, the Caribou Room in Nederland on March 9 and the Fox in Boulder on March 30. Denver music fans can catch the band in town at Cervantes’ Other Side on April 26.
“We’re stoked to keep writing and playing and spreading our music to as many people and places as possible,” Livingston said.
Livingston moved from California to Colorado in 2022 with a vision for the River Spell project. He met Maillaro and Demarco “almost immediately” before linking up with Ritchie to round out the talented lineup.
The band released two singles, ‘Only Love’ and ‘Bottom of the Hill’ this year ahead of its full-length debut.
“Something about the way it goes, like a river, time just flows,” Livingston sings on ‘E Tusk’ from the new album. “There are some things we don’t know.”
‘E Tusk’ grooves and builds a full sound with help from Mickey Lenny and Darin Jones in the brass section. Lenny plays trumpet and cornet on the album, while Jones plays saxophone. Killian Bertsch rounds out the studio band on keyboard.
New tune ‘Easy Answer’ wanders toward the band’s more mellow side. It’s built around quick acoustic guitar picking and light piano fills. Maillaro turns to slide guitar to give the song a bright peak while Livingston sings about the human experience.
“What you seek, and what you fear it comes to you and it disappears,” Livingston sings.
River Spell artfully works with pacing and background soundscapes to pull the listener into moments of shared introspection. Livingston’s lyrics return to themes of letting go and accepting life’s changes.
“I think I’m most proud of the energy contours on the album,” Ritchie told After Midnight. “I like the way the songs rise and fall, in particular the way ‘Let It Spill’ ebbs and flows into a final climax in the last chorus.”
On ‘Let it Spill,’ Livingston shares lyrics born from personal lessons while Maillaro, Ritchie and Demarco craft emotional interplay behind the verse.
“Got to learn to watch it fall, got to learn to let it spill;
It would be worth nothing at all if there was no way to fail”
Livingston writes most of River Spell’s songs while the band collaborates and gives the tunes life beyond formal structure. He said he often finds new melodies hiking out into the woods alone with his guitar, giving a full day for songs to find him in natural places.
“I’ve had some really memorable experiences wandering around in some of my favorite places chasing songs,” Livingston said. “For me it’s a good way to keep the process fun and inspiring.”
The band recorded “River Spell” at Evergroove Studios in Evergreen with audio engineer Athena Wilkinson. Matt Schimelfenig mixed the album tracks at The Bunk and Brad Smalling mastered the album at Evergroove Studios.
Maillaro plays a Player Series Strat on the album, the same guitar he favors onstage with River Spell. The inaugural studio record highlights the band’s live chemistry. After its first day recording at Evergroove, the band ditched a click track and tapped into the same energy River Spell forges in front of live audiences.
“Eventually we decided to lean into a more live sound and accept that the tempos would fluctuate, and instantly everything sounded better,” Ritchie said.
River Spell is ready to keep blooming and flowing wider in the Rockies this year. Click here for details on Winter Tour 2024, and here to access tickets for River Spell at the Fox Theatre in Boulder on March 30.
After Midnight 
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