Born Ruffians

by Eddie Robson

Playing ruff, sounding indie

"Born Ruffians are the band who should’ve been hyped up at the start of the year instead of Vampire Weekend, and we suggest that this oversight be put right as soon as possible."

Born Ruffians’ debut album comes with a handwritten press release (including hand-drawn Warp Records logo – nice skills) from the band which is so dryly self-deprecating that you could easily mistake it for a new We Are Scientists release. In fact, Born Ruffians are an even indier proposition than that. Their idiosyncratic rhythms make them akin to the likes of Vampire Weekend, but ultimately they sound like nothing so much as Pavement, tossing out amusingly off-kilter lyrics in a style that’s three parts wryness and one part actual sincerity.

This revelation will no doubt have given fans of bookish, lo-fi slacker-rock a hot and sticky thrill. Steady on there fella! However, Born Ruffians may well be worth getting excited about. Like approximately 84% of all new bands, they are Canadian, from Toronto to be precise (‘We even have a membership to the Eagle’s Nest firing range in Austin, Texas, which is pretty badass for three Canadians" according to the press release). Like their fellow Toronto residents, Crystal Castles (whom they sound absolutely nothing like), they’ve guested in ‘Skins’, although this is presumably a coincidence rather than some pro-Toronto initiative on the part of British TV’s best ever teen drama.

And so to the album, which is called ‘Red, Yellow and Blue’ and is pretty damn good. They may deadpan about ‘mixing drums, bass and electric guitar, an almost unheard of combination’, but this belies the fact that their sound is quite distinctive; very angular, with nervy drums (such as the uptight rhythms of ‘Kurt Vonnegut’). It’s very stop/start, but manages to not be frustrating with it. And it’s not trying to be obscure; in fact, the CD’s genre comes up as ‘pop’ in iTunes, where one would normally have expected to find the fairly meaningless ‘alternative/punk’ which most people insist on using for some reason. (Some of Scott Walker’s early albums come up as ‘alternative/punk’ in iTunes. Scott Walker!) ‘I Need a Life’ is a lovely, trebly foot-shuffler, whilst the simple lyric of the country-ish ‘Little Garcon’ is destined for gig singalongs.

In short, Born Ruffians are the band who should’ve been hyped up at the start of the year instead of Vampire Weekend, and we suggest that this oversight be put right as soon as possible.

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