A New-Wave Ska Riot Fueled by Iridescent Horns –

In The Going Rate’s Road to Nowhere, the galloping guitars rush forward with a momentum, carrying iridescent-with-euphoria horns that flare against the rapturously zealous vocal delivery. There is no separation between voice and instrumentation; they surge together as a single ecstatic force, turning the age-old idiom at the track’s core into a spark of renewal capable of tilting a worldview back toward possibility.

The slightly surrealist middle eight deepens the sense that stepping into The Going Rate’s whirling dervish of a ska world comes with its own rites. Expectation becomes irrelevant when uncertainty is greeted with a smorgasbord of talent, zero restraint, and a vitality that very few outfits inside or outside the ska zeitgeist have the audacity to carry. The vocals act as a steadying force within this sunny side up burst of serotonin, radiating the kind of exhilaration that would surface if Debbie Harry had steered Blondie headfirst into ska. It’s a new-wave riot with its blood up.

The narrative behind the brightness reaches further than the thrill of the arrangement. Road to Nowhere was shaped as an anthem for reclaiming your own direction through doubt, obstacles, and the weight that gathers when you forget your own agency. The horn-heavy progressions and fast-paced guitars pull that intention into physical motion, sending the listener through winding harmonies and straight into an uplifting final chorus. The unresolved closing chord leaves the question hanging in the air, nudging the listener toward whatever comes next.

As a collective, The Going Rate fold their multi gender, multi racial line up into a sound driven by unity, exuberance, and an unwavering support of original music across Long Island, New York City, and the broader Northeast.

Road to Nowhere is now available on all major streaming platforms via this link.

Review by Amelia Vandergast