The Guards Themselves is an album by New Zealand band, Minuit, that was supposed to be released during early 2005. However, during the production of "The Guards Themselves", lead singer Ruth Carr's left vocal cord was paralysed which delayed the production, and therefore, release of this album to 2006. According to specialists it was unsure if Ruth would ever be able to sing again. However Ruth managed to recover fully a year later and the production for "The Guards Themselves" was able to continue.

Lyrically and musically this is a much more sinister affair than their debut. As well as the hard dance of elements that featured on The 88

The 88 (album)

The 88 is the debut album from New Zealand band Minuit.The album achieved gold certification in New Zealand.- Track listing :# "The Boy with the Aubergine Hair"# "Claire"# "Menace"# "Species II"# "Except You"# "Queen 88"# "Djordj"# "Milk"...

there is also evidence of a more "rock" influence on "The Guards Themselves" opposed to The 88. According to Paul Dodge, It sounds bigger and fuller and a little bit harder and it has a lot more depth to it. He goes on to compare Minuit to a teenager, saying it's growing older.

The Guards Themselves was mastered by Emily Lazar at her New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 mastering house at the lodge. Emily has worked with artists David Bowie

David Bowie

David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...

, Jeff Buckley

Jeff Buckley

Jeffrey Scott "Jeff" Buckley , raised as Scotty Moorhead, was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He was the son of Tim Buckley, also a musician...

, Sonic Youth

Sonic Youth

Sonic Youth is an American alternative rock band from New York City, formed in 1981. The current lineup consists of Thurston Moore , Kim Gordon , Lee Ranaldo , Steve Shelley , and Mark Ibold .In their early career, Sonic Youth was associated with the No Wave art and music scene in New York City...

 and The Prodigy

The Prodigy

The Prodigy are an English electronic dance music group formed by Liam Howlett in 1990 in Braintree, Essex. Along with Fatboy Slim, The Chemical Brothers, and other acts, The Prodigy have been credited as pioneers of the big beat genre, which achieved mainstream popularity in the 1990s and 2000s...

. They managed to get to Emily through Damian Taylor, who is a Pro Tools

Pro Tools

Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation platform for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems, developed and manufactured by Avid Technology. It is widely used by professionals throughout the audio industries for recording and editing in music production, film scoring, film, and television...

 operator based in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 where he works with artists like Björk

Björk

Björk Guðmundsdóttir , known as Björk , is an Icelandic singer-songwriter. Her eclectic musical style has achieved popular acknowledgement and popularity within many musical genres, such as rock, jazz, electronic dance music, classical and folk...

; an interesting - if inconsequential - link, because Minuit is often compared to Björk.

This album was named after the Latin proverb "Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes?" which translates to "Who Will Guard The Guards Themselves?"

The artwork for The Guards Themselves was designed by Minuit member Paul Dodge and friend Aaron McKirdy. It features childlike cartoon creatures with speech bubbles containing one-liners from the songs. In conjunction with the album release, stickers of the creatures were distributed throughout New Zealand. Paul explains the inspiration behind the creatures: "Those little guys came into being 'cos some of the words are pretty heavy; so when you see a little cartoon character saying it, it puts it into another context. But never to trivialise the sentiment, they're still pretty mean little characters who seem to have a history of their own, of being up against it."

Track listing

1. "I'm Sorry Baby"
2. "The Guards Themselves"
3. "Bury You In Brazil"
4. "Suave As Sin"
5. "Fuji"
6. "Lock The Doors, Block The Roads"
7. "Do Me In"
8. "We're All Scared Professor"
9. "Fake!"
10. "A Room Full Of Cute"
11. "Forever"
12. "The Sum Of Us"