Born Ruffians are a three piece made up of Luke Lalonde (guitar/vocals), Mitch Derosier (bass), and Steven Hamelin (drums), they have released a couple of EPs over the last few years, and now their debut album Red, Yellow And Blue is here. These Canadians serve up some clean, zesty guitar rock that has enough little variations in formula from song to song to make their debut album a fun listen.At a basic level each song consists of a lone guitar creating a wicker basket of picked lines over the top of a rhythm section, and although the technique isn’t amazing it does feel somewhat unique. There is definite a post-punk angular sensibility that is integrated into the sound, showing through in spiky excursions and jutting rhythm. The spectre of r ‘n’ b bands from the 60s hangs around these songs, and that is largely down to the bass and drums which skip and dance away with a playful yet sexual allure, such as on ‘I Need A Life’. Variety comes in to songs like ‘Kurt Vonnegut’, which has 1930s Cole Porter vocals and a big band jazz feel backing it up, although only the basic three instruments are used. Other fare such as ‘Foxes Mate For Life’ takes it’s time to build up using deceptively minimal instrumentation before ploughing into an extremely catchy chorus, ‘Little Garcon’ features harmonica, accordion and an acoustic guitar, and you can tell that the band could’ve made it up-beat and nervy like the majority of the album, but it is to their credit that they chose to make it a slower and more relaxed type of song, and in the middle of the album no less.‘Hedonistic Me’ is a really catchy track that brings in a subtle country twang, whilst still retaining the overall formula. The real jewel in their repertoire, though, is both Lalonde’s lead and the other two’s backing vocals. Lalonde has a really exciting way of delivering melody, drawing out words, specifically vowel sounds as on ‘Foxes Mate For Life’, adding twang and just the right amount of out-of-tune-ness. The backing vocals often cut up syllables and almost turn themselves into a third rhythmic instrument, see ‘Hummingbird’ and ‘Hedonistic Me’, and at other times they call up the spectre of 60s garage rock with a rough chant, as on ‘I Need A Life’ and ‘Foxes Mate For Life’.An important thing to point out, though, is the utterly modern sound the band create, sure there are references to past styles, but the clean guitar and open, space-filled production more than justifies it’s place on the Warp Records rock division alongside, !!!, Maximo Park, Battles and Grizzly Bear. 75%Links Born Ruffians [myspace] [official site]