ALBUM REVIEW: Ten Paces – Ruen Brothers
Rock duo the RUEN BROTHERS make a return with their third studio album Ten Paces, a record that takes heavy influence from Noir-Western whilst also bringing in a modern twist. The two brothers are experts when it comes to setting up atmospheric scenes as along with writing music for records, they’ve also taken to writing scores for films which include Blumhouse’s Adopt A Highway and Netflix’s Half Of It. At the end of the day, this style of music comes down to a love of American westerns and the ability to transport listeners into a world that tells a story.
The movie influence is obvious from the moment the album begins with Slow Draw which, if the title doesn’t give it away, features sound effects of bullets ricocheting that you would typically hear in old cartoons and Western films. This is accompanied with gentle guitar plucking, drums beats and claps that are easy to sway along to, with lovely vocals and harmonies to match – it’s a lovely way to start an album.
For the most part, Ten Paces has lovely sounds that make you feel calm but there are two occasions where the production goes in a weird direction where the vocals start to sound pitchy when trying to hit higher notes. The first of these is The Fear, which we can tell is meant to be a sultry song to encourage a love interest to stay over, but any feelings that should be make us swoon are banished when the weird production is heard on the vocals, along with some rather strange lyrics which include the line “You’re my teddy bear”… what are you trying to say here and why do we feel so weird?
The other is Don’t Know What’s Come Over You, which starts out strong with twinkly piano and guitar that soon switches up to become a solid country rock track with catchy beats, but is ruined by the return of the same weird pitchy production, alongside a rather strange electronic breakdown that doesn’t quite work; we’re once again left feeling confused.
But as stated, this album is a mostly solid country, blues-rock album with moments that leave you smiling and wanting to sway along. Highlights include Silver To Gold which has a fast intro that for some reason brings to mind MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE’s Mama before developing into a catchy song that you can’t help but bop along to; Free As The Birds, which starts out with marching drums and acoustic guitar that at first creates a solemn atmosphere before it moves into a fast country track with captivating harmonies; and Sleep which is a gentle, lo-fi song that would be perfect to slow dance to.
Despite the odd production on a couple of tracks here, all is forgiven with the overall style being catchy, fun, and enjoyable. If you need something to calm you down and put you in a happy mood, then Ten Paces is the album for you.
Rating: 7/10
Ten Paces is out now via Yep Roc Records.
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