9. BORN RUFFIANS - BIRTHMARKS

9. BORN RUFFIANS - BIRTHMARKS 

"I belong to no one
Like the watermelon 
Rolling with momentum, spitting out its seeds
Buried under snow and waiting just to show us
How it grow and knows how yummy it will be

I belong to no one
A song without an album
Long forgotten maxim spoken to the sea:
I belong with no one/ I belong with no one/ I belong with no one...
you belong with me"

Born Ruffians - Needle

I have followed Born Ruffians ever since I first saw them live at Laneway festival in 2009 - when they toured to promote their first album, "Red, Yellow & Blue" (2008) and I fell in LOVE with them. They released their second album, "Say It" in 2010 but I didn't get to see them when they toured in 2011 but I digress.

Birthmarks is an album that is definitely different to their older more acoustic based tunes and definitely explores singer Luke LaLonde's vocal range a whole lot deeper. He's pretty damn amazing and he makes these tunes sound oh so sexy - don't believe me? listen to the album and you'd understand why I swoon. I can guarantee you won't find many bands who have such a distinct sound as Born Ruffians do. If you've never heard of them then this is your chance to right your wrongs! 

I don't know what exactly makes this album so good but it definitely helps that I want to get up and dance to the majority of tunes on this album - there are some melancholy exceptions, see: Never Age & So Slow which is about a person's battle with cancer. They lament, 

"oh, so slow

slow like a thunder roll

my pollution rolls off the earth into a hole

black and white slow mo

treat it with the chemo

but it breeds and grows

and it comes

so

slow"

My favourite tunes are:

"Needle"

"Permanent Hesitation" 

& 

"So Slow"