Ripe

BIOGRAPHY

Ripe first united at Berklee College of Music and almost immediately began drawing acclaim and a fervent fan following for their horn-blasted fusion of deep funk, soulful jazz, pure pop melodies, and kaleidoscopic improvisation. The band – currently comprising singer Robbie Wulfsohn, guitarist Jon Becker, drummer Sampson Hellerman, and trombonist Calvin Barthel – honed their unstoppable sound over a pair of well-received EPs and countless live shows, whipping increasingly packed houses into a frenzy with relentless grooves and a surprising knack for infectious songcraft.

Hailed by Boston’s WGBH as “teeming with a pop swagger, confidence, and total self-assuredness,” 2018’s Joy in the Wild Unknown proved a milestone debut album for Ripe, demonstrating an equally imaginative approach towards the studio by folding elements of classic R&B into their already inclusive musical palette. The band soon saw their global streams surge past 65M, fueled in part by nearly non-stop touring which saw them light up stages across America with sold-out headline shows and show-stealing sets at such festivals as Bonnaroo, Firefly, Boston Calling, Austin City Limits, and BottleRock, to name only a few.

Bright Blues now sees Ripe pushing its music forward in unexpected directions despite having weathered a mountain of adversity over recent years, from a shifting lineup to a global pandemic that made recording a logistically complex bicoastal project. Eager to create something truly unique, the band enlisted rising pop producer/songwriters – and Berklee classmates – Noah Conrad (BTS, Niall Horan) and Ryan Linvill (Olivia Rodrigo, Dermot Kennedy), who helped infuse songs like “All or Nothing” and the hypnotic “Paper Cups” with an adventurous, self-assured creativity unlike anything they’d previously attempted in the studio.