CD REVIEW: Born Ruffians – Birthmarks

BIRTHMARKS
Born Ruffians

Birthmarks represents a return to form for quirky rockers Born Ruffians. The band broke onto the scene with their huge album Red, Yellow & Blue in 2008, making their name with fun pop tunes you could whistle as you walked down the street. But 2010’s Say It went deep into experimental territory, not entirely successfully. Birthmarks represents the bands effort to straddle the world’s of CBC Radio 3 approved pop-indie and strange reverb and squeals they so enjoyed playing with on their sophomore album. “6-5000” is a more polished attempt to play with traditional pop sound, while “Permanent Hesitation” starts of with a deep bass rhythm that almost belongs in the eighties — in a good way.
-H.G. Watson