Over the past two decades, Ontario-based Born Ruffians have been on a constant journey of musical evolution. From indie rock to New Wave to their current incarnation of synth pop, the band manages to show off snatches of just about every musical influence on Beauty’s Pride, their latest LP.
The opening track, “Mean Time” is heavy on synth and electronic elements like drum samples, but the lyric digs into some deep intellectual themes for inspiration: “Mean Time is sort of autobiographical/speculative non-fiction inspired by Nabokov’s beautiful autobiography Speak, Memory,” says, singer/guitarist Luke Lalonde’s. “It’s about those two black voids, the before and the after, and all of the extraordinary moments in between.” But for those already lost by the description, it’s an enjoyable listen, regardless. The atmospheric “All My Life” is their most experimental track yet, with an opening that blends a lonely electric guitar played with what sounds like a heartbeat from an ultrasound and highly digitized vocals for what is oddly beautiful, despite being seemingly stripped of all human elements.
Elsewhere, “What A Ride” starts with a 1 a.m. tattoo session before going into a fantastic contemplation about balancing mistakes with enjoying living the one life you have, all while borrowing a line from Hunter S. Thompson. It’s easily one of the best tracks on the album.
At 14 songs, the album does lose a little steam about a third of the way through, but ends the set strongly on the title track, a sweetly delicate song with acoustic guitar and Lalonde’s dreamy vocals, complete with a cameo from his infant child at the end. It’s a sturdy counterbalance to the more synth-driven tracks at the front of the record and perfectly ties together the range of influences the band has had over its 20 years together. Through a mix of dance tracks, atmospheric soundscapes, and moments of sweet, stripped-down indie rock, with Beauty’s Pride, Born Ruffians show they are not content to simply reheat the same album over and over again.
