Rika, ‘Port Dover’ – Free MP3 Download

Lest they be pigeonholed as the Austrian equivalent of Mineral, one of the many mid-'90s emo bands they channeled on their debut, Rika have changed things up on album No. 2.

Due out Feb. 15 on Count Your Lucky Stars in the States and Goddamn Records in Austria, 'How to Draw a River, Step By Step' finds the foursome looking beyond earnest Midwestern guitar rock and incorporating new instruments, most notably piano, which trickles delicately through 'Port Dover,' today's free MP3 download.

"'Port Dover' was one of the first songs we've written on piano," Rika's Stefan Fellner tells Diffuser.fm. "It vaguely revolves around the topic of feeling isolated and held back from living life the way you want; getting caught up in nine to five routine and trying to break loose. A recurring image on the album would be the ferry ride from Calais, France, to Dover, England, on a very unsuccessful tour of ours. It came to mind a lot when writing lyrics for the album and might be a figurative arc for it, representing that release from a routine you get stuck in."