New Ruins
Indie / Rock / Other
Champaign-Urbana
About
"This impressive debut album by New Ruins has been in pretty heavy rotation around here lately. The central Illinois band (consisting of two members and a guest cellist) describe their music as "small town mid-western gothic/folksy guitar-mantras tinted with martial snares and cooing organs." Anyone who has lived in a small town long enough has probably felt the inner struggle between the desire to move to an exciting city and the comfort and ease which comes with the affordability of a small town (especially a college town). Couple this struggle with winters that never seem to end and it's no surprise that The Sound They Make's opener "Ships" explodes with anxious guitar riffs and pressing organ lines that crescendo into melancholic vocals recalling roads too often travelled and pitting urgency against somebody's likely kind reminder that "we have the rest of our lives." This apprehensive eagerness paired with two distinctive vocal ranges that could be a perfect octave apart (imagine if Isaac Brock and Doug Marsch formed a dark folk band) make for an impeccable alt-gothic country album that's already garnered comparisons to John Fahey, Iron and Wine, Old 97's, and Grant Lee Buffalo, but still manages to stand alone. The indie kids are always eager for new alt-gothic country heroes. If New Ruins don't fill that void with "The Sound They Make," they'll certainly cause a flutter of anxious fans awaiting their next release (rumored to be in the works) on which their all-star live support--drummer Roy Ewing (Braid; Very Secretary) and bassist Paul Chastain (Velvet Crush; Matthew Sweet)--will contribute." Aquarius Records -San Francisco, CA.
" It could be argued that the best songs are born of troubled relationships -- a fact fully supported by the harrowing debut from the Chicago group New Ruins. Witness: chief Ruiners Elzie Sexton and J. Caleb Means have known each other for over a decade now, first crossing paths at age 15 and together weathering punk phases and folk phases and finally coming out the other side weathered and jaded. New Ruins was born while its members were in college -- two different colleges, separated by 600 miles (that's where the "troubled" comes in). Sexton and Means exchanged tapes via the mail and met on breaks to write and record and collaborate, knowing that all good relationships require dedication to overcome problem spots. Fortunately, The Sound They Make was worth the effort it took to create it. In eleven songs of grim, ravaged beauty, New Ruins recall the National and American Music Club and Grant Lee Buffalo without copying any of them outright. Both Sexton and Means have deep, dire baritones, and their songs are invaded by a kind of shadow and sorrow that bleeds into even the up-tempo numbers: "Ships" is propelled by a rocketing tempo and ragged guitars, but the morose vocal keeps repeating "holes in our ships." "Book Lung" rattles like a bum carburetor, cacophonous percussion and a low, groaning cello guiding the song to its ominous concluding refrain: "Your ghost still walks all around these hills." It's that sentiment that best sums up The Sound They Make: snapshots of spirits floating through places in time, half-remembered memories of people loved and forgotten. The record feels like a scrapbook, its minor-key strumming and lowing strings as brittle and yellowed as aging oak pages. And that's where that foundational relationship becomes an asset: Sexton and Means disappear into each other, twin voices that help each other sort out the photographs, piece through the details and create new fictions. Their characters occupy the empty space between desperation and resignation. With friends like these, who needs memories?" J. Edward Keyes - eMusic
Stats
- Plays today
- 0
- All-time plays
- 0
- Profile views
- 367
