Say It (Born Ruffians album)
Encyclopedia
Background
As Born Ruffians confirmed the upcoming release of the album, they announced their intentions for the new album: "If Born Ruffians’ 2008 debut album Red Yellow and Blue was the result of a talented and precocious gang of freshmen, their 2010 follow-up, Say It, would be the project they left school to finish — a declaration that they’re smart and ambitious enough to make it on their own, and furthermore, that they’re in it for the long haul." Of hopes for the album, Luke Lalonde said, “We don’t want to leave little mistakes on, we want to make it sound pretty clean and pop-music friendly. We’re trying to make a hit record but in the most genuine way-- We just want it to sound like us live … but better.”Name
The album's name emerged after a riff among the band's members. "'We had a therapeutic talk and put everything on the table,' Lalonde explains. 'We toured too much I think. A lot of stress within our band built up and got blown out of proportion.' They vowed to never let issues go unsaid ever again. To, you know, just say it. 'So Say It has a lot of lyrics about communication and the difficulties of articulating ideas … like I’ve had talking to you this whole time,' Lalonde says. 'That’s our new philosophy, to talk about things before they happen, so we know that we’re on the same page.'Track history
- "Retard Canard" – In an interview with their PR company 2:30 Publicity, Lalonde recounts some of the ideas and feelings that went into the song: “Retard Canard is about a certain kind of person who feels like they don’t fit in, or can’t fit in and get along in life. That’s where the “not part of the human race” lyric comes from; it’s about how you just have to do it, or die trying.” The song's chorus also references The Ink SpotsThe Ink SpotsThe Ink Spots were a popular vocal group in the 1930s and 1940s that helped define the musical genre that led to rhythm and blues and rock and roll, and the subgenre doo-wop...
song "I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire".
- "Sole Brother" – An early version of the song can be found on DaytrotterDaytrotterDaytrotter is a website for the recording studio Horseshack, which hosts recording sessions with many popular and typically upcoming indie music acts, although it works with local bands in the Illinois area as well. The sessions can be compared to that of a radio station's lounge recordings, where...
, where Luke discusses its development. "Again a new song though this title will definitely stick. We were working on it in rehearsal and Steve had this melody in his head so I told him he should sing it. His words were all about wanting to be a soul brother, and many of his idols being rappers etc... My half of the song was about my mom nagging me to help my grandfather rake his leaves so I decided to have a transition from one into the other about how I'd like to be an only child and how I was bitter towards my sister because she never had to help do the hard chores. It only seemed logical to me to change soul to sole as a joke. Sole brother/only child."
- What to Say - "'What to Say' is about how much and how little sense we make when we speak," Lalonde told SPIN.com. "It's about the multitude of wrong words and the never-ending search for the right ones. May you choose wisely." Hamelin describes “What To Say” as “one of those songs where we put it together out of a bunch of different ideas, and it really came together as a cohesive whole. Unlike some of the songs we've put together out of a bunch of ideas, and they sound like a bunch of different ideas.”
Reception
Say It received a mixed critical reception, with an aggregated rating of 66/100 on MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
. Drowned in Sound
Drowned in Sound
DrownedinSound.com or DiS is a UK based music webzine financed by artist management company Silentway . The site is an editorially independent music website.-History:...
stated that it was "much more cohesive than its predecessor" and "a much improved piece of art" compared to Red, Yellow & Blue
Red, Yellow & Blue
Red, Yellow & Blue is the debut album by the indie-rock band Born Ruffians. It was released on March 4, 2008 in the United States and Canada and May 26 in the UK/Europe. "Hummingbird" was the first single off the album, followed by "Foxes Mate for Life." The band teamed up with Rusty Santos,...
. However Pitchfork
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...
described it as "amateurish" and claimed it sounded "rushed and half-finished".