Switchblade by Riley and the Roxies

This time last year the Riley and the Roxies “Switchblade” single was released. It’s a two song single containing the tracks “Switchblade” and the previously unreleased b-side “Little Love (feat. Ryan Viramontes)”. “Switchblade” is a re-release of a track on Riley and the Roxies’s full length album, Raw Honey, and “Little Love (feat. Ryan Viramontes)” is an exclusive previously unreleased track with a music video written and produced by Spencer Alfonso during his college years.

“Switchblade was a story that just unraveled pretty quickly onto the page. The music was also developed relatively quickly, the production and mix took a little longer. Often what I'll do with a song like this, is I'll write something new get more of the album fleshed out, and then return to a track like Switchblade and figure out the last 10-20%. For me the last 10-20% of a song or production is everything. In this case, it was the bridge. I wanted the story to feel connected all the way through the song while also maintaining a lyrical honesty to the words. I didn't want anything to feel inauthentic or forced.” -Spencer Alfonso

“Little Love was written after the OceanGold EP. Sonically, it's one of the closest tracks to that EP, without officially being from that same EP. I had returned home for a week or so for a holiday break, and got together with my good friend Ryan Viramontes. We wrote together some melodies and lyrics, and Little Love is one of those tracks. I take a lot of inspiration when I'm writing with a singer that I'd admire. Ryan's voice is a unique blend of grit, and melody, so I wanted to write something with him that would feature both our vocals. Once the song was written we brought in two amazing vocalists to sing the chorus sections: Connor Shambrook and Emiko Woods. Connor was a friend of mine that I had produced in high school, we kept working throughout my college years. He was one of those unofficial Riley and the Roxies members, he'd always sing on stuff that I was working on. Emiko Woods started singing with Riley and the Roxies in the very early days, right after we performed at the Roxy Theater. Once we all got to college the project changed, and for the most part all of the live performers went their separate ways. I was lucky enough to catch Emiko on a break from school, and she tracked her vocals along with Connor. Their voices are so pure together, I think the juxtaposition of my voice, Ryan's, Emiko, and Connor's is really interesting.” -Spencer Alfonso