The Ruby Suns- Fight Softly

I'm wearing a hood to the office- that's super professional, right? It's okay, I look like a Benedictine Monk and it's like 12 different holidays, so I think I have carte blanche to look like I'm rocking a snuggie.

Anyway, it's Good Friday, so that means you get a review replete with off-color, irreverent, inapposite religious references! Joy to the fucking world! Let's get this started...

Thought #1: Rock is to Christianity as Chillwave/Glowfi is to...

Answer: Scientology. Everything is overwrought and hyperconsumed with sounding as if it originated on some spectral plane deep in outer space. Yet, it is appealing precisely because of this escapism. Incidentally, can I be the L. Ron Hubbard of Chillwave? I've introduced you to The Ruby Suns and removed your thetans. Now give me 75 percent of your income.

Ruby Suns Tie-in: Check out the intoxicating "Beam Me Up" sound at the 1:07 mark of "How Kids Fail." If you can resist that uplifting chime or the rising synth line that follows, you're a better man than I (or brainwashed celebrity X).

Thought #2: How would the Gospel of Jesus play out in the Twitter age?

Answer: Rt @ Mhew, dagospeltruth, Skyywalkker, and Jewdoss (Hey bro, where u @? Did u delete ur account?): drnkn btl of wine w Jeez (told u he's backkkk) @ Trous...who's here?

Ruby Suns Tie-In: The rollicking, driving drums and repeated sawtooth loops on "Cranberry" and "Mingus and Pike" conjure feelings of a spaceship ride on the Jesus Resurrection Express. Moreover, when combined with the textured, vaguely Afro-Carribean percussion peppered throughout the rest of the album, TRS seem to have sonically carved their way into a new genre, which I'm gonna go ahead and dub, Astrofarian. Eat your heart out Bob Marley and your 75,000 illegitimate spawn.

Final Thought: Sarcasm and sacrilege aside, I hate myself for liking an album so greatly reminiscent of Meriwether Post Pavilion. Yet, what separates Fight Softly from the aforementioned is Ryan Mcphun's lilting, arresting vocals. Whereas Animal Collective always sound like they’re straining at stool, Mcphun’s effortless falsetto adorns each track like a diaphanous bow. This album is the spawn of Small Black, Tanlines, The Dodos, Yeasayer, and Toro Y Moi and a "must have" for fans of those bands.

Grade: B+

Best Tracks: “Closet Astrologer,” “Cranberry,” “How Kids Fail,” “Mingus and Pike,” and “Two Humans”

-Matt

Check out an exhilirating still shot of the album cover with "Cranberry" playing in the background here:





P.S. Blogger is wigging out so we’re taking a Holiday from our collective rating. We apologize for the inconvenience. Happy Something!