Riley! return with To Live And Die In The American South, a five-song EP set for release July 17, 2026 via Pure Noise Records. The release marks the South Texas band’s debut for the label and follows 2024’s Keep Your Cool, pushing their high-energy Midwest emo into a more focused and immediate shape.
The band’s latest single, “Two Bucks,” featuring Eric Egan of Heart Attack Man, is streaming now. The track finds Riley! leaning into melody and high, soaring harmonies while wrestling with the strange tradeoff of touring: missing home life, birthdays, anniversaries, and time with loved ones, but still finding purpose in traveling and connecting with people through music.
Recorded in Austin, Texas with producer Phil Odom, whose credits include Militarie Gun and Say Anything, the EP keeps Riley!’s sharp edges intact while leaning into bigger hooks, clearer melodies, and more tightly harnessed dynamics. Ryan Bluhm described the goal as “something a little bit more polished,” noting that the band wanted to make the songs more digestible without losing the feeling that made people connect with them in the first place.
The EP opens with “Roll For Initiative,” a burst of off-kilter, syncopated energy threaded with existential dread. “Another Round Of Radical ‘Ritas, Please” features Tades Sanville of Hot Mulligan and turns toward the quiet spiral of feeling left out and left behind, while “Two Bucks” brings in Eric Egan for a song about touring, purpose, and the ache of trying to leave something meaningful behind.
Elsewhere, “Backseat Bartender” features Gabe Wood of Saturdays At Your Place and taps into Riley!’s classic emo side, while closer “73 Summers” slows the pace for a more reflective look at grief, loss, and impermanence. Across the EP, the band writes from the tension of loving a place that can still make belonging feel difficult, turning personal isolation and community into the record’s central pulse.
Pre-order / store link
