Pitchfork

What's that stat, a hummingbird can flap its wings more times per second than Lightning Bolt's drummer? Only about 0.001% of songs are about hummingbirds? Toronto three-piece Born Ruffians have a high metabolism for spastic, quirky-jerky indie rock, as they showed on last year's self-titled debut EP for Warp. "The way Isaac Brock listened to Black Francis, this guy listened to Isaac Brock," Pitchfork's Mark Richardson wrote of Born Ruffians singer/guitarist Luke LaLonde. No surprise then, really, that Born Ruffians would add to the canon of tunes about hyperactive flying critters with their forthcoming Hummingbird EP.

Not a hum in earshot, "Hummingbird" opens with yelping oh-ohs, then sends surf-flecked guitars and punctual bass bloops bouncing around like Super Balls off the ticky-tacky drums and cymbals. LaLonde tells us about a girl who wants to die, and then jumps to some higher notes for the song's shout-along slogan, "We're not gonna die like that!" The results aren't far off from what you'd expect from another possibly Brock-inspired band, Denmark's Figurines. Via Wikipedia, here's a modestly encouraging stat: "Most organisms with very rapid metabolism have short lifespans; however, hummingbirds have been known to survive in captivity for as long as 17 years." Hmm.

MP3:> Born Ruffians: "Hummingbird"
[from the Hummingbird EP; due 10/02/07 on Warp]