Born Ruffians
Warp
Their simultaneous breakthroughs onto the Skins-approved indie scene make it pretty difficult not to compare Born Ruffians to darlings du jour Vampire Weekend. There are certainly moments where the two bands do sound alike – not least singer Luke LaLonde’s strained vocals – but the aptly named Toronto three-piece have thrown out the glossy production and Afro-influence in favour of something altogether scruffier, and, well, more interesting. There is a childish exuberance that runs throughout ‘Red, Yellow and Blue’: from the primary colour theme to song titles like ‘Barnacle Goose’, ‘Badonkadonkey’ and ‘Red Elephant’; from the joyous group yelps that form the backing vocals of most tracks to the cheeky adolescent-themed lyrics that fill them. It’s an album absolutely bursting with boyish energy, right down to the tinny guitar and jerky rhythms and this, mixed with Rusty Santos’ undercooked production, means Born Ruffians end up sounding something like a garage indie-pop band. The painfully good trio of ‘Barnacle Goose’, single ‘Hummingbird’ and sing-along anthem ‘I Need A Life’ provide the early album fuel, the latter issuing the slacker call to arms: “The sun is shining but we stay inside, oh but we go out at night”. But there are tracks that (despite some overlong intros) reach out and grab you throughout, in particular the vulpine love song ‘Foxes Mate For Life’ and nursery rhyme-like ‘Badonkadonkey’. ‘Red, Yellow and Blue’ sounds like it was damned fun to make and it could just be that it’s even more fun to listen to. Chris Helsen
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