March 15th, 2008
The Ruby Suns - Sealion
THE RUBY SUNS - Sealion - Memphis Industries ****
A song praising your home country´s oldest tree is, let´s face it, unusual, especially when it´s in Maori. But ‘Tane Mahuta’ does just that and crams in big brass, tribal beats, flamenco guitars and makes you think of hip-jiggling grass-skirts. This is just one offbeat cog in an album that resists categorisation. The New Zealand trio have amassed record collections and geographical experiences that filters into an album of sound experiments: a dollop of crowd noise here, a pinch of amplifier someone forgot to turn off there. From Beach Boys vocal slants and shoe gaze drones to Polynesian folk and African rhythms, it´s by turns hypnotic and catchy. ‘Oh, Mojave’ is all foot stamps and dervish rhythms while ‘Ole Rinka’ fires up prog-synths with twinkling glockenspiels. World Music if it had been used on a 1950s film soundtrack (South Pacific maybe?)
Download Tracks: ‘Blue Penguin’. ‘Tane Mahuta’. ‘Oh Mojave.’
Website: www.myspace.com/therubysuns
March 15th, 2008 at 9:10 pm
Nice. Relaxed and Sunshiny!
I saw Angus and Julia Stone supporting Newton F last week - they’re from Australia. It’s very different, nice and weirdy. http://www.myspace.com/angusandjuliastone
March 17th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
[…] Sinéad has found something interesting in New Zealand group The Ruby Suns, go have a listen. (Sorry for stealing Sinéad!!) […]
March 19th, 2008 at 10:05 pm
Mixed feelings on this one. Played it a few times and I can’t really remember much of it tbh. Could be a grower though!
March 21st, 2008 at 5:39 pm
@Jo- saw Angus and Julia Stone down at Electric Picnic last year and they were one of my highlights- love her voice! They have a new album out which is quite good and will be back for a headline gig sometime in May:-)
March 24th, 2008 at 8:44 am
Jo, that A&JS album is lovely, have been listening to it quite a bit.
Mish, it’s definitely a bit of a grower. It can sound a bit chaotic on the first couple of listens, but then it settles down.
Tim, I missed them last year, but they play the Sugar Club on May 12th. Should be a lovely venue to see them in.