True Colors

I downloaded this cd on a whim a few months ago, knowing only two songs by the band. Every time I hear it, I just get a huge smile on my face. They sound like three dudes in a recording studio, having a lot of fun as they wrote and recorded some fantastic songs.

Born Ruffians - Red, Yellow & Blue (2008)

Luke Lalonde, Mitch Derosier, and Steven Hamelin are a power trio in the most fun way. Yeah, they play guitar, bass, and drums, respectively, with Lalonde taking on lead vocals, but they also incorporate pianos, accordians, and more backing vocals than necessary. The music is catchy and nearly dancy, but very minimalist, relying more on syncopated and truncated rhythms and virtuosic playing than wall-of-sound production. The instruments, when played in headphones, nearly sound like they're spaced apart by the producer, and that's part of the charm; it makes what I declare a Sonic Sandwich: The drums and bass are spaced far to the sides, the guitar is right in the middle, leaving the area in between for vocals. Okay, you guys don't care.

So the songs bounce around; the drums are tom and cymbal heavy, the basslines walk up and down the fretboard, and the guitar is jangly as a set of car keys in a blender. The voices yell and stomp and croon beautifully with backing vocals often taking on a call-and-response form or simply harmonizing with Lalonde's playful vocals. Overall, this album is just a lot of fun and it's what I want to listen to over the summer just to have a good time.

Recommended Tracks: Barnacle Goose, Hummingbird, Hedonistic Me, Kurt Vonnegut
Genres: Indie, Folk, Pop, Rock
Link: http://www.mediafire.com(SLASH)?yutyyz5mjnn