Album Review

Born Ruffians – I Need A Life

• 18th May 2008

Born Ruffians? Sound like a right goon squad to me! Still, you know what they say about books and covers so, onward. The predominantly vocal intro of ‘I Need A Life’ resounds (an adolescent) Starsailor before more animated Kook- like singing rides punchy mid eighties guitar that a current day Kid Creole would perhaps knock out. Hell, this could even be Blow Monkeys territory! It works well, just in an awkward, off-putting way. Think Dirty Projectors without the subtle underpinning brilliance.

The acoustic ‘Hummingbird’ follows, making it perfectly clear from the outset that we’ve happened upon flipside material. Flashes of fantastic potential are extinguished and stripped of their worth with anguished drawn out “oh”s, vowel sounds and just about anything else needed to fill the many vocal voids for which we find ourselves begging for by the close. I’m so glad I missed that session I can tell you.

Ooh…this has got promise. ‘So Long, Tadpole’ and its ‘Stutter’ era James instrumentation thankfully carries a driven, purposeful vocal that, wait a minute, it’s all gone wrong. Okay Ant, summarise…a lack of any true commitment to the average song-writing and utter disregard for the importance of an audiences tether girth, both gradually grind you down, inducing something of a senseless sense of horror at just the thought of playing it one more time. Sure, you could prove yourself wrong if you listen to it enough, but at what cost?

Good to hear a band with a set of balls who stray fearlessly from the chart startled flock, it’s just a pity they’re so bruised and bent out of shape. And I thought Warp Records knew what they were doing. Given another 5 years, another set of ears and hell while I’m rhyming another 10 beers, hey, who knows what they might sound like.