Born Ruffians - Beauty’s Pride

2025 • YEP ROC RECORDS • INDIE ROCK

70/100

Back in 2008, Born Ruffians released Red, Yellow & Blue during a period of time when every indie band gaining significant traction either had a no fewer than ten members (Broken Social Scene, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Margot & the Nuclear So and So’s, Grouplove), crafted a sound with the help of increasingly esoteric folk instruments (Beirut, M. Ward, Andrew Bird, Devandra Banhart), or both (Sufjan Stevens, Arcade Fire). And then there was Born Ruffians, a young trio from a small town in Ontario who released this spindly and energetic rock record and didn’t use even a hurdy gurdy.

Ever since, The trio put themselves and the band in an impossible situation. They released an idiosyncratic and well crafted debut, when nobody expected it, and now nobody can talk about the rest of their work without talking about it first (including me, I suppose). The band has gone through a lot of changes in style since 2008. The whirlwind chemistry of their spartan guitar/bass/drum setup has changed and evolved to fit a more pop-centric direction. Luke Lalonde, Mitch DeRosier, and Steve Hamelin were just kids when they released that record. They are a much different band now. Every record they released since has been measured against Red, Yellow & Blue and seventeen years later It isn’t fair anymore.

Born Ruffians  have steadily released records for these last seventeen years. A lot has changed for Luka Lalonde & Co since 2008. Their sound has shifted. Band members have come and gone. They’ve started families and had children. Eight studio albums and seventeen years later, the shadow of their debut feels smaller than ever. Born Ruffians’ new record, Beauty’s Pride is a culmination of a long career. It blends together the best bits and pieces of the styles they’ve adapted to over the years.

Songs like “Athena” and lead single “Mean Time” are very reminiscent of the Birthmarks era where they dove head first into a synth-pop sound. “To Be Seen”, “Supersonic Man” and “In The Meantime”  build upon the sincere more guitar-driven songs on Uncle, Duke & The Chief. All of these songs are unified by a maximalist production style the band began to perfect on, JUICE, SQUEEZE, and PULP, the trio of albums released throughout 2020 and 2021 after the addition of new band member Maddy Wilde. The record doesn’t have the bombastic horn section like it does on The Band’s latest trio of records, but the production, courtesy of Roger Leavens, is warm and lush, making everything, from the oh-so groovy opener “Meantime” to the hushed “In the Meantime” feel alive.

This is a very personal record about the existentialist pangs of growing older and learning to accept them. There is a very specific combination of warmness and existential dread on this record that can only come from the lessons learned during their 20 year career performing together. The jangly guitar riffs and delightful fuzzy bass of “To Be Seen” are paired with Luka Lalonde singing about a growing claustrophobia and sense the walls are closing in (“I’ve been living in head/ Not much empty spaces left.”) The groovy lead single “Mean Time” describes the insignificance of even the biggest human accomplishments like falling in love, or starting a family in the grand scheme of the world.

Beauty’s Pride is separated into two halves by the gorgeous waltzing “Can We Go Now” sung by newest band member Maddy Wilde. The second half of the album is notably more sentimental, ending with two intimate reflections on family “In The Meantime” and “Beauty’s Pride” (the latter featuring a cooing appearance from Lalonde’s newborn son). These certainly would not sound out of place on a record in the Ben Gibbard Extended Cinematic Universe.

For all of the consideration this album obviously takes about its production,  Beauty’s Pride is not always cohesive in its sound and energy. The bouncy single “Athena” comes between a moody vocoder interlude “All My Life” and the gorgeous slow burning waltz “Can We Go Now” on the record and it feels very out of place. Its mood does not feel unified with the rest of the album. The fuzzed out stop-and-go hook on “Do” is an underwhelming and repetitive climax to the brilliant songwriting of its verses. Lalonde and Wilde sing about the importance of overcoming fear and doubt with taking action in the verses and end each one with a lackluster repetitive one-word (at times 2 overlapping words) chorus. A live performance of this song may do it justice, but on the record, it falls flat. 

Born Ruffians have certainly become something quite different from their humble debut. I’ll always remember the mach speed of Lalonde’s vocals and the neck breaking speed in which Mitch DeRosier’s bass and Steve Hamelin’s drums would push and pull rhythms, but those days are gone. Born Ruffians has shown it has intentions of looking backwards fondly, learning from their past and drawing upon it when they need to, but they continue moving forward.

PLAYER COMP: BLAKE GRIFFIN

After a stunning Rookie Year, they continued to evolve and change their game and dealt with some growing pain during those changes, but always stayed true to who they were.