STREAM: Needle by Born Ruffians

FINALLY. The band that, upon its first release, looked poised to be a less afropop-inspired, more tightly wound version of Vampire Weekend seems once again ready to take up that mantle. After a promising self-titled debut and an excellent follow-up in Red, Yellow and Blue, Born Ruffians lost all momentum, not to mention a bit of goodwill, with lp3 Say It, a hot mess of a record with tracks that seemed more like demos than actual songs, and more like half demos than full demos.

But with this new song (and hopefully the album that it comes on, the forthcoming Birthmarks), the band seems more than game to pick up the mantle where they last left it and to make up for lost ground while they’re at it. And “Needles” is a prefect reintroduction to what was so loveable about the band in the first place. Tightly arranged but loosely performed, earnest as hell but completely lacking any form of pretension, funny without being jokey…who else would (or even could) turn 25 seconds-worth of lyrics about a runaway watermelon into a heart-piercingly sincere lament about isolation and loneliness? Listen to the track below and grab the album this May.

Chris aims to expose viewers to some of the most legit tunes of the times, peeling back the layers of what’s relevant in current music events, with up-to-date posts of new artists and releases. Living in Chicago, Chris manages his own blog Brown Bear Wants Honey dedicated to new music releases, clips of new musicians, and announcements of upcoming shows at cool venues.

.