Charlotte Renaud

Arts & Culture Editor

Photo Vias Spotify

Aaron Graham and Tucker Elkins’ indie-pop duo, Ray Bull, based in Brooklyn, New York, released their newest EP Little Acts of Violence on February 21st, 2025. Graham and Elkin’s path towards a musical career began when both studied visual arts at Cooper Union in New York. They both explored music on the side and eventually collaborated on each other’s work, only to realize that their creative visions were destined to be joined under the same name: Ray Bull. 

Having dabbled in visual arts and now music, they attest that the two art mediums overlap more than we can imagine. “We both used to make music as a hobby and I think there’s a close crossover between what makes a good artwork and what makes a good song,” says Graham. Switching from visual arts to music “didn’t feel like a great leap,” he adds. Elkin describes that “ you get imagery sometimes when you’re writing lyrics,” thus studying visual arts proved to be far from useless when faced with the creation of their EP. However, sometimes the creation of their music is not as much based on imagery than it is on “a vibe” Graham remarks.

The creative process is unique to every artist; for Ray Bull, lyrics and melody sometimes happen at the same time. Elkin shares their creative process: “We live together, and we’re always noodling on the piano or the guitar and one of us might be playing something and the other can hear. We’re always fishing for stuff and sometimes you don’t catch anything, but sometimes you hear something in just the right way and then there’s something there and you keep digging. It’s different every time though, because sometimes you get hit with a song that’s almost fully formed and you can work it out in like an hour or two, but then sometimes you get one little seed, and you have to keep checking up on it. Is it still something interesting? What if I work on it a little more?” 

The duo performed at Montreal’s Osheaga music festival in 2024, and will now be playing their first headline tour. Ray Bull is kickstarting a North American tour from March 7^th to April 25^th, as ready as ever to share their new music. Graham explains that they “definitely feel more ready this time especially now that the people going to the shows are our own fans, which is exciting.” When asked how their previous tour experiences have gone so far, Graham responds that their first tour was a support one where they opened for Stephen Sanchez and then Ricky Montgomery He describes it as “[their] first dip into actual touring. Before that, [they] were just doing shows around Brooklyn and New York.” 

The creation of Little Acts of Violence took over a year’s worth of work; the duo wrote hundreds of songs and had to choose from them which ones worked together and belonged to the project. Elkin shares that “[they] have a bunch of material, it’s impossible to decide almost…[they] could seem like a whole different type of band if [they] put these six out instead of these six. But you get paralysis thinking that way and [he thinks] the way [they] avoided that is by picking the ones that were calling out and just working on those.” Graham adds that they “had hundreds of song ideas. At a certain point, [they] had to leave behind so many of them that [they] were excited about. So, [they] just had to let fate decide what should rise to the surface.” This process proved successful for Little Acts of Violence, but Elkin says, “For the next project, we want a more birds eye view of things [instead of relying mostly on instinct].” 

The duo didn’t have a theme in mind during the creation of their EP. “[It probably does have] a theme, but we just don’t know for sure what it is,” says Graham, “That’s how the universe works. Things just manifest themselves at the right time.” Once the project was finished, Elkin explained that “[they] saw the picture at the end and surprised [themselves]. There probably is some guiding force [behind the creation of music] like Aaron said. You just surrender to it and see what comes out.”

The album starts off in an upbeat mood with “Better Than Nothing,” a song that has a sound similar to that of The Strokes. Little Acts of Violence then unfolds into unexpected directions with “Reelin” and its acoustic tone, showcasing the guitar, piano, violin, and even the harmonica. The EP ends with “MTV” and its slow-paced dreamy synth lulling the listener into a state of mournful calmness after having experienced such diversified songs. Every song adds its own personal touch to Little Acts of Violence; the EP wouldn’t be what it is without any of its songs. When asked which song on the EP they preferred, Graham responds, “It’s hard to say… the title track ‘Little Acts of Violence,’ sums up the project well, but I like them all in different ways.” 

Ray Bull was born from two friends who wanted to explore music as a new creative outlet, and now their release of Little Acts of Violence might just be an upcoming hit. Aaron Graham and Tucker Elkin’s switch from visual arts to music undoubtedly proved to be a success, exemplifying how—when it comes to art—there are no boundaries, only uncharted territory.