Stream City Rain’s new EP, Montage (playing Johnny Brenda’s on Friday)

Happy EP release day to City Rain, who dropped the anticipated Montage EP this morning. The sound on this set of songs are massively extroverted – which is funny, when you think about it, since main Rain dude Ben Runyan was already a mega-extroverted guy. But here he uses lush synthesizer textures and hard beats, not to vent and rave as he has in the past, but tell his story:

I have been alive for 25 years and in that time I have been through many chapters. Friends come, friends go, interests come and interests go. In this record I attempted to best portray not only the course of my life, but the struggle that all of us go through. The struggle to find oneselves and the struggle to be a child all while “growing up”. It has been a hard transition for me from a boy to a man but I am here now and proud of what I have done and accomplished.

You can check out Montage below, and purchase yourself a download at Bandcamp – make sure you don’t miss “Big Boys Do Cry” at the front, and stick around for the cool “orchestral mix” bonus tracks toward end. We’re not sure what configuration of City Rain is playing Johnny Brenda’s this Friday – they were a two-piece at XPoNential Music Festival, while their recent PhilaMOCA set was Runyan solo – but whichever way it swings, it will a beat-heavy, danceable time. City Rain performs with Work Drugs and Cold Fronts at Johnny Brenda’s, 1201 North Frankford Ave., Friday Aug. 31 at 9 p.m. Tickets to the 21+ show are $10.