Born Ruffians - Beauty's Pride (CD)

Beauty's Pride is a significant evolution in Born Ruffians' creativity & artistry, both in terms of the writing and as the first album written in collaboration with multi-instrumentalist Maddy Wilde who joined the band in 2022. Born Ruffians are a band that has generally favored a sound that is lo-fi and contained. But on Beauty's Pride, they're doing the opposite - it's a richer, bigger, full spectrum sound with lyrical themes that evoke a more universal storytelling spirit. While much of the trend in guitar/indie rock has been to favor more 1960s & 70s-inspired lo-fi recordings, here the band set out to create a record that sounds like it was made in 2025: it's a maximalist indie rock album that embraces hi-fi production techniques. It's filled with fear and optimism (and still plenty of anxiety as is Luke Lalonde's charm), but in an engaging, unpretentious way, something which, again, reflects the year it was made, the cultural feelings of this moment, and the confidence of a band that has earned it's stripes.