New Ruins

A stunning debut of alt-gothic country… It could be argued that the best songs are born of troubled relationships — a fact fully supported by the harrowing debut from the Chicago group New Ruins. Witness: chief Ruiners Elzie Sexton and J. Caleb Means have known each other for over a decade now, first crossing paths at age 15 and together weathering punk phases and folk phases and finally coming out the other side weathered and jaded. New Ruins was born while its members were in college — two different colleges, separated by 600 miles (that's where the "troubled" comes in). Sexton and Means exchanged tapes via the mail and met on breaks to write and record and collaborate, knowing that all good relationships require dedication to overcome problem spots. Fortunately, The Sound They Make was worth the effort it took to create it. In eleven songs of grim, ravaged beauty, New Ruins recall the National and American Music Club and Grant Lee Buffalo without copying any of them outright. Both Sexton and Means have deep, dire baritones, and their songs are invaded by a kind of shadow and sorrow that bleeds into even the up-tempo numbers: "Ships" is propelled by a rocketing tempo and ragged guitars, but the morose vocal keeps repeating "holes in our ships." "Book Lung" rattles like a bum carburetor, cacophonous percussion and a low, groaning cello guiding the song to its ominous concluding refrain: "Your ghost still walks all around these hills." It's that sentiment that best sums up The Sound They Make: snapshots of spirits floating through places in time, half-remembered memories of people loved and forgotten. The record feels like a scrapbook, its minor-key strumming and lowing strings as brittle and yellowed as aging oak pages. And that's where that foundational relationship becomes an asset: Sexton and Means disappear into each other, twin voices that help each other sort out the photographs, piece through the details and create new fictions. Their characters occupy the empty space between desperation and resignation. With friends like these, who needs memories?
- EMusic

The Band: New Ruins
The Buzz: Grim Goth-country band yawns out dire prophecies over bleak, rolling guitars.
Listen If: You use GarageBand to listen to Uncle Tupelo records at half their proper speed, or you were the first of your friends to discover the National.
Key Track: "Lake," a sepia-toned ballad with a heartsick refrain about a "mouthful of poison." - Rolling Stone

Listening to New Ruins, you can practically see your boots getting dustier. The Illinois quintet’s sophomore record, We Make Our Own Bad Luck, flirts heavily with canyon rock elements without ever crossing the rubicon into Americana or alt-country. Instead, as on “Lake,” the twang only functions as an enhancement to the overall sound, complemented by the smoky vocals that (for this listener, at least) call to mind the hurtin’ voice of one J Mascis. It is the intersection of these two textures that makes this song such a good listen.

With its distorted opening notes, “Lake” does seem to promise a little more edge than it winds up delivering, but that may be for the best; its slide guitars and strings prove to be more winsome than a wall of noise, and the pedals still get pushed during the song’s back end. My sole complaint here would be that, while the song makes for an enjoyable, engaging listen through repeated trips, it does lack a certain distinguishing thrust that would make it more memorable.

That aside, this is a strong piece of songwriting from a band that has yet to receive their due. Here’s hoping “Lake” clues in a few more listeners. - One Track Mind

New Ruins describe their music as "Small Town Midwestern Gothic," and that summary is good enough that Elzie Sexton and J. Caleb Means, the two musicians who comprise the group, ought to consider rock journalism as a sideline. While New Ruins' first album, The Sound They Make, is brimming with pop hooks and hummable melody lines, an air of malaise permeates these 11 songs, and while this isn't the typical gloom-struck synth wailing one usually associates with the word "goth," the simple organic approach of this music (with acoustic guitars often high in the mix) generates a compelling and evocative unease all its own. Sexton and Means originally launched New Ruins as a home recording project, and there's a modesty to their production and arrangements that suits the songs quite well; the open spaces in the arrangement on "Flowers" allows the refrain of "I've been in this town so long" to take on a weariness it might not have generated otherwise, the low-tech synthesizer on "Records" adds a very real charm as it floats over the simple percussion beds, and the drowsy vocals and insistent guitars of "Attic" suggest Dinosaur Jr. trying to be quiet for the benefit of their neighbors. While the material on The Sound They Make gets a bit samey by the end of the last track, the album also generates a tonal and thematic unity that adds to its power -- New Ruins manage to make music that sounds both sad and pretty without seeming self-indulgent, and their moody palette is both imaginative and absorbing. It's an impressive debut, though one hopes New Ruins have the sense not to stray too far from the concision that makes The Sound They Make so memorable. - All Music

Elzie Sexton and Caleb Means have expanded New Ruins from a two-man studio project to something like a functioning band on their second album, 2009's We Make Our Own Bad Luck, with the addition of percussionist Roy Ewing and multi-instrumentalist Paul Chastain. But if New Ruins' sophomore effort is constructed on a grander scale than their debut, We Make Our Own Bad Luck is still dominated by the same spectral atmosphere and lo-fi approach that made The Sound They Make such a pleasant surprise. Chastain's pedal steel guitar at once reinforces New Ruins' weathered country influences while adding the same weary resonance that Bruce Kaphan brought to American Music Club's best work, and while drum machines still keep the beat on many tracks, Ewing's strong but carefully punctuated drumming brings a more human (and appropriately troubling) pulse to this music. We Make Our Own Bad Luck falls together with a greater unity than the band's first album, while the individual songs manage to work as individual pieces as well as a coherent whole; "Symptoms," "Other Ones," and "Held Up by Sand" balance a passionate intensity and an air of dashed hopes with a skill that's genuinely moving. And if this music manages to be even darker than The Sound They Make, We Make Our Own Bad Luck never shies away from the human consequences behind these stories, and Sexton and Means aren't afraid to show compassion when it's deserved. New Ruins sure won't get your party started, but if you don't mind music that isn't afraid to lead you to a long, hard look into the abyss, We Make Our Own Bad Luck will amply reward your time and effort. - All Music

Obvious: From what I’ve read, a lot of “The Sound They Make” was written while you and J. Caleb were 600 miles apart. Was it difficult developing ideas in this manner?

Elzie: The long distance stuff was pre-The Sound They Make when we were at college. After graduation I moved to Champaign where Caleb was living and we both had stuff that we were separately working on and shared some ideas and put some things that were in pieces together and recorded it.

Obvious: I love the lo-fi sound on the album, where did you guys record it and what sort of set up did you use?

Elzie: We recorded/mixed it all (minus drum set) in the back room of our house on a Mac G5 with a protools demo and a couple Shure Sm 57's. We recorded the drums at our buddy Jason’s studio, Midget Pistol.

Obvious: On “Flowers” one of the lines is “I’ve been around this town now for so long.” Do you ever feel compelled to leave your small-town surroundings? How is the music scene where you are now?

Elzie: We have since left that town and now we are in a bigger small town. The music scene in Champaign-Urbana is a bit weird. There are a lot of good bands and venues, but there aren’t a ton of folks coming out. We do get a lot of touring bands coming through. We also have the Pygmalion Festival, which is kinda like a smaller SXSW.

Obvious: I’m a big Braid fan, how did you guys hook up with their former drummer Roy Ewing?

Elzie: I emailed Todd Bell desperate for a drummer and he pointed me to Roy. I guess Roy had some of our demos and he liked the stuff. I emailed him and we met with Roy and he brought Paul Chastain (who just happens to be an awesome bassist, keyboardist, producer, engineer, and can fix all our rough shit) and we decided to try it out. It is working really well.

Obvious: Your band has been described as alt. goth-country. Do you have any idea what the hell that even means?

Elzie: Bad poetry? I think it is supposed to mean very American music, like the American gothic painting… country, I guess because of the acoustic guitars. I would say that we are a rock band. The new album will definitely bury that weird description.

Obvious: You have two distinct vocalists which is a nice juxtaposition. If you could pick any two of your favorite singers and put them in one band, who would they be?

Elzie: It has already been done for me, Ugly Casanova. Isaac Brock, Tim Rutili and John Orth. - Captain Obvious

Champaign, IL continues to be a breeding ground for new musical discovery here at Muzzle of Bees. Over the weekend I finally got around to taking in New Ruins after numerous e-mails suggested they’d be my speed. It was an outstanding recommendation, which I now forward onto you. A few months ago the group released We Make Our Own Bad Luck on Parasol from which you can (and should) download the track “Lake” below. Enjoy. - Muzzle of Bees

I consider Champaign/Urbana, IL to be a second home of sorts for me, primarily because it’s the only place that I can drive to in an hour or so that frequently has good live music. So I always get excited when a Champaign band puts out great album and such is the case with New Ruins‘ sophomore effort, We Make Our Own Bad Luck. I saw New Ruins open for José Gonzalez as a two-man band a couple years back, and I can say that this full band suits their rustic Americana sound much better (plus now there’s a couple more beards to look at). The ringing guitars, rootsy steel pedal, and delicate string flourishes provide wonderful atmospherics for the Elzie Sexton’s formidable baritone. Their sound is brooding and melancholic but not in an overly bleak way but moreso thoughtful and reflective.

“Lake” is the first song I heard from the album and still my favorite. It’s a strongly affecting track about nostalgia that puts focus on the good times and the bad times. A droning electric guitar plays the main riff while densely-layered acoustic instrumentation gives the song a grand-scale chamber folk feel. Sexton’s vocals are wistful and poignant and draw you into the bittersweet world the band has created. “As Far As We Know” is another highlight of the album continuing the band’s foray into the melodramatic and making skilled use of a bellowing cello during the inspired bridge. - Music For Kids Who Can't Read Good