Born Ruffians - Ruff (2015)

Born Ruffians. The record is RUFF - simultaneously a return to form and a departure from expectations. Songs of refutation, lamentations of forgotten past lives and ecstatic self-erasures that say "eat shit, we did it!". RUFF, as an idea, is everything - sound, message, band. If Birthmarks was polished and presentable, RUFF is the ugly innards that hide beneath. Years ago three kids holed up in their parents' basement, loved Talking Heads, The Pixies, The Strokes, and made it. The founding members became good but stayed ruff. The scene is now disillusioned. Luke Lalonde has been tinkering with the machinery of the universe. Seething with rage and ambition, he offers a succession of songs following the circuitous motion of tidal mood swings: optimism lurks menacingly in "Stupid Dream" and "We Made It", whereas "Don't Live Up" and "Shade to Shade" vibrate with radicalized ambivalence.