Class 2 Rapids by Robbie Rapids rides the current of memory, noise, and nostalgia.

Robbie Rapids turns genre, hopping into storytelling, one memory, soaked riff at a time.

Robbie Rapids is an Atlanta-based Generation X rocker who refuses to be confined to neat genres and polished expectations. A songwriter, guitarist and vocalist who works mostly on instinct rather than trends, Rapids constructs songs the way memories do: imperfect, deeply emotional and completely uncategorizable. He basically takes classic rock as a starting point and from that base he journeys into pop, folk, alt, country, metal and swamp rock, and the result is a very human, lived-in sounding music.

Class 2 Rapids is an album that he co-wrote and co-produced over two years with a large group of collaborators, and through it, he conveys his conviction that albums should be like real life: some moments very smooth, others very rough, but always progressing.

No Life Jackets Required: Robbie Rapids Genre, Hopping Trip Through Class 2 Rapids.

Rapids doesn't aspire to perfection; he wants to be felt. Class 2 Rapids doesn’t come like a concert announcement; it merely stumbles, revs, drifts, and at times careens, just as its name suggests. Robbie Rapids unchains a wild and unpredictable flow through the listener's head, a 15-track album is dropped, giving off the vibe of an accidental mixtape which has been kept in the glove compartment along with all the emotions it has been absorbing throughout the years, rather than a meticulously crafted album.

The lead, off track of the album Hang Loose, is a lively, jittery, upbeat tune loaded with strumming guitars and frantic drumming. It nods towards the current emotional volatility, mixing the nervous and high-speed with the optimistic lines.

Dance with Me, in a sudden, unannounced change, shifts its setting to a synth, which is colored by nostalgia and glowing with the soft light of the 1980s' wistfulness.The song is like being with a stranger under the disco ball for the first time and wondering whether it's

fate or just a moment's trick.

After the first half, the Rapids take on humour and vulnerability together in a much lighter, hearted way. "Mule of Mine" is such a charming, quirky and lo-fi track with a wonderful weirdness that it's hard not to love it for its simplicity and profundity at the same time. It is very much akin to the side of the album, "Fishing the River, " that tells an alt-country story of going to Michigan's Pere Marquette River with friends during the teenage years. A folk style is initially invoked through the lyrics, but gradually the song gets more and more rock with muddy guitars and rolling drums, thus happily giving out the message of friendship and nature, at the same time, openly admitting to personal weaknesses. The guitar solo is lazy and relaxed, just like the river itself that it is meant to signify.

While the album is heavy at times, it is thorough with its heavy songs. "Black Roses" intrudes with walls of fuzz and distortion, conveying emotional finality through overdriven amps. It is the album's gruffest moment, which is later balanced by the glam, rock bravado of "Big Bam Boom. " The track with its grinding guitars and punchy drums channels the spirit of Bowie and T. Rex, the whole crush velvet confidence and beer, sticky swagger vibe.

The emotional bookends of Class 2 Rapids are two very different versions of Dream Away. The final rendition of the song is slow and very calm.

Their laid-back guitar lines and gentle rhythms evoke in the listener a weary feeling of resignation. But then, surprisingly, the album ends with a Sound effect of a man falling asleep. After all the genre changes, memories, and emotional work, the listener is given rest. It's not a resolution, just rest.

Class 2 Rapids is not about being perfect. It is about movement, memory, and momentum. Robbie Rapids does not ask you to be right there with him; he only invites you to float along.