Last Updated on 2026-01-07 by a-indie
Everyone experiences it at least once: the collapse of a grand ideal, the end of a relationship, the hollow night when you’ve lost your place in the world.
How can music express such pain?
Rikas, a four-piece from Stuttgart, Germany, captures emotions beyond words by letting them run along tracks of sound.
Rooted in funk and soul, every member sings and plays, creating a distinctive collective voice.
Through their cover of Electric Light Orchestra’s “Last Train to London” and their album 『Soundtrack For A Movie That Has Not Been Written Yet』, where will they take us?
Who is Rikas
Rikas emerged from Stuttgart, Germany, a quartet with no fixed frontman. Rooted in funk and soul, every member sings and plays, creating a style that feels like an endless journey with close companions.
Yet the new music they deliver is far from cheerful pop songs.
What exists there is nostalgia for lost days and a quiet resolve to move forward nonetheless.
Through their cover of Electric Light Orchestra’s “Last Train to London” and their previously released album 『Soundtrack For A Movie That Has Not Been Written Yet』, they take us on a journey into “a movie without a script yet written.”
The Night We Departed on the Last Train: “Last Train to London”
First, the journey begins with “Last Train to London,” released on Christmas 2025.
This cover, which caught fire from a session video on social media, strikes deeply with its stripped-down arrangement, contrasting sharply with the original’s glittering disco sound.
Last train to London, just headin’ out
Last train to London, just leavin’ town
But I really want tonight to last forever
I really wanna be with you
Let the music play on down the line tonight
While the words wish to “stay,” Rikas’s sound moves steadily forward.
The layered thickness of harmonies and the rhythm section’s groove, like wheels continuously rotating, push the protagonist’s back as if shaking off hesitation.
In this version, the final scene is clear.
In the night’s landscape, the longing that pulls at his heart scatters into darkness, trailing glittering light.
Yes, he chose not to stay but departed on his journey, carrying his sorrow with him.
Empty Gas Tank and a Beautiful World
Though we move backward in release chronology, the continuation of that journey is recorded in the album 『Soundtrack For A Movie That Has Not Been Written Yet』.
The sound remains as light as wind blowing through fresh green seasons. Guitar like light streaming past car windows, racing rhythms.
But riding in that car is a heart carrying loss and sadness, continuing to search for a place to belong.
At the End of Grand Ideals
In “Driving Down Slow With My 505,” they confess a harsh reality.
You know we had a plan, we had big ideas
We were sure we could work it out
But coming back is the hardest part
If you don’t have gasoline
Out of gas after running full speed toward grand ideals.
The traveler weeps on an empty roadside, so hollow they might lose even their sense of direction.
But they don’t end there.
I won’t give up ’cause we’re just starting out
Me and my friends ’bout to come back around
Taking a step back, just to figure out these days
Between Strangers and Lovers: “Strangers”
Strangers, lovers
Trying to find my groove again
From lovers to strangers
“Strangers” depicts how, even when a relationship breaks and you lose your emotional anchor, a person tries to regain their breath in the void.
To live in this world, slowly but surely beginning to mark their own time.
Rikas’s method is to avoid giving emotions easy names.
By simply letting them run along tracks of sound, they reflect unspoken emotions more deeply.
Even While Carrying Pain
In “It’s a Beautiful World (When I’m on My Own),” which they reach at journey’s end, they quietly affirm.
‘Cause we can’t live without love
On this beautiful world
Even while carrying pain, this world is beautiful.
That voice, whispering gently as if caressing memories, is not mere longing for the past but soft sunlight shining on those who continue walking with their memories.
Loading heavy baggage, with nights when they lose sight of where they’re going, the “movie without a script yet written” for us who keep pressing the accelerator has only just begun to sketch its opening.
Rikas Album Releases
2nd Album 『Soundtrack For A Movie That Has Not Been Written Yet』
Release Date: February 7, 2025
Tracklist:
1. Bike in L.A.
2. Driving Down Slow with My 505
3. Barcelona (Learning to Love Myself)
4. Strangers
5. Heartbreak Big Mac
6. Passenger (Extended Version)
7. Souvenir Shop
8. Opposite Opinions
9. Just Like Ice Cream
10. Where Do You Go?
11. Jude Bellingham
12. It’s a Beautiful World (When I’m on My Own)
View on Bandcamp
Single “Last Train to London”
Release Date: December 25, 2024
A cover of Electric Light Orchestra’s 1979 track.
View on Bandcamp
Rikas Band Profile
Rikas is a four-piece indie pop band from the Stuttgart region of Germany. Formed in spring 2016, the members are Sam Beisch (Ba., Vo.), Chris Longe (Gt., Vo.), Sascha Scherer (Gt., Key., Vo.), and Ferdinand Hübner (Dr., Key., Vo.). Characterized by warm sounds fusing funk, soul, and indie pop, they employ polyphonic harmonies with no fixed lead vocalist, rotating main vocals between songs. After releasing their debut EP 『Swabian Samba』 in 2018, recorded at Berlin’s Tritonus Studio with producer Robert Stevenson, they signed with Columbia Records (Sony Music Entertainment) from 2019 to 2022, releasing debut album 『Showtime』 and EPs 『Short Stories』 and 『Goodbye Sunshine』. Their latest work 『Soundtrack For A Movie That Has Not Been Written Yet』, released February 7, 2025, has garnered attention as an introspective, cohesive work themed around travel and motion.
Writer: Wakiki
A Baystars fan who loves coffee, tobacco, and music. Based in Mie Prefecture. All articles written are available here
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