Exclusive Video Premiere: Behind Ra Ra Riot’s “The Orchard”

Documentary chronicles the making of Ra Ra Riot's "The Orchard" on a peach farm.

New York’s Ra Ra Riot spent much of 2009 touring, both on their own and with Death Cab For Cutie before retiring to focus on writing songs. The place they chose to do it holds special meaning for the band — a peach farm upstate, and it was there that they conceived their second full-length album, “The Orchard.”

“We moved into the farmhouse and were planning on spending a month there to work on, and develop song ideas that had accumulated over nearly two years on the road,” guitarist Milo Bonacci explained. “The house itself very much represents the beginning stages of Ra Ra Riot; some of our first songs were conceived there, and it was here that plans were hatched to even start a band in the first place.”

There in this place that looks like part recording studio, part private heaven, they documented the days, ideas, sessions and fruit fly infestations that culminated in their forthcoming sophomore release. We have a taste of that documentary here, the first ten minutes of the making of “The Orchard”:

“The Orchard” is due out August 24th on Barsuk Records. A special edition includes a DVD of the full 38-minute behind-the-scenes documentary on the making of the record, directed by Taryn Gould and Emily Kowalczyk. Hit up the band’s site or Barsuk for pre-orders and more.