'Fight Softly' is the third album by New Zealand's pop masters The Ruby Suns. Ryan McPhun (their prime mover) has the kind of voracious musical mind that cites as equal influences '80s/'90s New Jack Swing and modern Angolan kuduro, Fleetwood Mac and Britney Spears, Brazilian tropicalia and Argentinean cumbia. He's the kind of diligent, meticulous soul that spends days hunched over a laptop in a tiny rented studio in Auckland, NZ just to perfect a sequenced drum track (mission accomplished). And Fight Softly is the kind of head-spinning combination of big-picture vision and sumptuous detail that only comes from an artist with an urgent need to express all the stuff he's seen. And you can dance to it!
California-born (and NZ citizen) McPhun took childhood trips to New Zealand and finally made Auckland home in 2003. Though he soon started playing with Kiwi indie darlings The Brunettes, he'd been making his own music for years—four-track bedroom stuff that mixed his faraway vocals with effects-laden guitar, synths, and all manner of field-recorded samples. With his own new band, Ryan McPhun and The Ruby Suns, McPhun recorded and released his first album for NZ label Lil' Chief Records. By the time its follow-up, Sea Lion, was ready, the foreshortened Ruby Suns had gained a college following in New Zealand and toured Australia with The Shins and the UK with Field Music, among others. The album came out on Sub Pop in early 2008 and landed on various best-of lists that year.
And for a few summer months The Ruby Suns landed in Seattle. There they played Sub Pop's not-so-humble 20th anniversary festival and began work on Fight Softly. "Mingus and Pike" is about their temporary Victorian abode and its happy-go-lucky pit bull mascot Mingus; “Cranberry” captures a day trip to Cranberry Lake, a dream of a swimming-hole 90 minutes from Seattle on Fidalgo Island. The former is beat-buzzed bedroom R&B swathed in reverb while the latter is part tequila-drunk marching band, part Eastern Bloc candy rave.
In the spring of '09, The Ruby Suns took a whirlwind tour of Europe that included 10 days at a friend's spread outside Szeged, Hungary. McPhun and friends Bevan Smith (Signer, Aspen, Skallander) and Matthew Mitchell (Skallander, Muriel Tsains) spent their time devouring veggie pizzas and jamming, improv-style, in an old farmhouse. These sessions didn't make it to Fight Softly as-is but were a springboard into new ideas McPhun brought back to his Auckland studio.
Like "Closet Astrologer," a song that started in Hungary and concluded, vaporous and Vangelis-like, in New Zealand. Or "How Kids Fail," a multi-movement epic that sounds like a post-techno hymn and nods to How Children Fail, John Holt's groundbreaking book on the general out-of-touch-ness of the public education system. "Haunted House" bounces on a pitch-shifted vocal sample and bubbly synth line,
simultaneously lush and minimal. "Cinco" and "Dusty Fruit" share a similar digital-tropical soul.
This is where Fight Softly veers from the path set by its predecessor. Thematically, it's not as wide-eyed or lighthearted, picking apart the relationships faced as we pass through the world—with our surroundings, each other, ourselves. Sonically, it remains as beat-centric, though these beats are deliciously artificial—stretched and compacted and distorted beyond recognition. Melodies are scuzzy and digital, not many guitars strummed or basses plucked. McPhun's soulful upper-register croon, swallowed into the mix, replaces group chants and full-throated singalongs. Rather than an album of clearly-drawn influences, Fight Softly is a unique, inscrutable synthesis, more itself than anything else.
Boy
The Ruby Suns Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
'Cause monster never wonder, no
Oh your relatives are not impressed
The riddled games of ending love
Where do you go when you get out?
Do you hide in your room, away from dad
To revel in your baseball card collection
But try not loose
Don't be cruel, no, nah nah nah
I'm running back
Is there anything that we can do?
Is there someone you'd wanna talk to?
How did it go today at school?
You're a good boy for a girl
Where I was didn't even do drugs
The tears kiss and rise
When will it be like that but I do
Time
Don't be cruel, no, nah nah nah
But try not loose
Don't be cruel, no, nah nah nah
I'm running back
Don't be cruel, no, nah nah nah
You'll wrinkle cuter
You're only cuter
You'll wrinkle cuter
Don't be cruel, no, nah nah nah
But try not loose
Don't be cruel, no, nah nah nah
I'm running back
Don't be cruel, no, nah nah nah
But try not loose
Don't be cruel, no, nah nah nah
I'm running back
Don't be cruel, no, nah nah nah
You'll wrinkle cuter
You're only cuter
You'll wrinkle cuter
Don't be cruel
Don't be cruel
The Ruby Suns' song "Boy" is a poignant exploration of the complexities and challenges of growing up, particularly for young boys. The song seems to address a young boy directly, asking him questions about where he goes and what he does to escape the pressures and expectations of the world around him. The lyrics focus on the contrast between the innocence of childhood and the harsh realities of the world that young boys must eventually confront.
The song's opening line, "Hey little boy, can you speak up?" immediately sets a tone of concern and compassion, suggesting that the singer is reaching out to the boy with an open heart and a willingness to listen. However, the next line, "Cause monster never wonder, no," introduces a note of caution and skepticism, suggesting that the boy may have learned to be wary of adult expectations and judgments.
The lyrics that follow suggest that the boy may be struggling with issues of identity and self-expression, particularly in relation to his family and his school peers. The singer offers reassuring words of kindness and support, urging the boy not to be cruel to himself and to find ways to stay true to his own unique sense of self. Overall, "Boy" is a heartfelt and thought-provoking song that resonates with anyone who has ever struggled to find their place in the world.
Line by Line Meaning
Hey little boy, can you speak up?
Asking a young boy to speak louder
'Cause monster never wonder, no
Implying that the boy should not be afraid to speak up, in contrast to mythical monsters who never question or wonder
Oh your relatives are not impressed
The boy's relatives are not pleased with something he's done
The riddled games of ending love
Playing games with someone's affection until the relationship ends
Where do you go when you get out?
Questioning where the boy goes when he leaves a certain place or situation
Do you hide in your room, away from dad
Asking if the boy seeks refuge in his room, away from his father
To revel in your baseball card collection
Suggesting that the boy might enjoy looking at his baseball card collection as a way to escape from reality
Don't be cruel, no, nah nah nah
Encouraging the boy to be kind to himself and others
But try not loose
Striving to not be careless or careless
I'm running back
Returning to a past situation
Is there anything that we can do?
Asking if there is anything others can do to help the boy
Is there someone you'd wanna talk to?
Suggesting that talking to someone might be helpful for the boy
How did it go today at school?
Asking how the boy's day went at school
You're a good boy for a girl
Making a gendered comment about the boy's behavior
Where I was didn't even do drugs
Referencing the singer's past location in contrast to the boy's possible struggles
The tears kiss and rise
Describing the process of tears rising up the cheeks
When will it be like that but I do
Expressing the wish to have an emotional release like crying
Time
Reflecting on the passage of time
You'll wrinkle cuter
Complimenting the boy's appearance, even as he ages
You're only cuter
Reiterating the boy's positive physical appearance
Don't be cruel
Encouraging the boy to be kind to himself and others
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: Ryan Williamm McPhun, Bevan Smith
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
jtorin76
awesome tune and it's getting lots of play on my favorite radio station