Born Ruffians Share New Single 'Chrysanthemums'

Today, ahead of the April 27 launch of their 34-city North American JUICE, SQUEEZE & PULP tour, perennial indie rockers Born Ruffians share a trippy new single, "Chrysanthemums," the first new music from the band since the release of their 2020-2021 trilogy series. A complete list of dates is below, and tickets are now on sale here.

Of the new single, frontman Luke Lalonde offers: "How do you explain the feeling and experience of a field of flowers? Is it universally shared but completely subjective, like love? Is warm, evening rain through the soft, pink light of a sunset something you can put into a song? I tried to bring colours, smells and warm sensations to people through these lyrics. Chrysanthemums existed for a while before I added any words to it-it was just 'the woo-woo' song for a few months. We talked a lot together about what it made us feel and it was really remarkable how we all had entered the same world with it. I hope we opened a door into that place for everyone else who wants to step through it."

Created by John Smith, the trippy, psychedelic video for "Chrysanthemums" used machine learning technology that "essentially takes text prompts, in this case influenced by Luke's very visual lyrics, and runs them across a very large database of images that it uses as reference, in an attempt to "imagine" what those words should look like," explains Smith.

"We're still relatively early into the use of machine learning to make visuals, and lots of the results have a very dreamy imperfection and a strange unfamiliar-but-familiar ambiguity which I feel match the warmth of the song."

For the JUICE, SQUEEZE & PULP tour, the Born Ruffians-Luke Lalonde (guitar/vocals), Mitch DeRosier (bass), and Steve Hamelin (drums)-will introduce a new fourth member, Maddy Wilde, to the lineup.

Following the recording of Uncle, Duke & The Chief in 2018, the band still had a batch of songs that they wanted to record, so they entered the studio without knowing what would become of them. Those prolific recording sessions churned out more and more music, resulting in a multi-album release plan: JUICE (2020), SQUEEZE (2020), and PULP (2021).

Formed in rural Ontario, Born Ruffians arrived on the Toronto scene in 2004 and released a self-titled EP in 2006 on XL/Warp Records. The latter released the band's debut full-length album, Red, Yellow & Blue and Say It (2010). Birthmarks (2013) and RUFF (2015) followed on Yep Roc Records and has received critical praise from NPR, Pitchfork, Stereogum, Noisey, Magnet, Under The Radar, and more.

Listen to the new single here:

Born Ruffins Tour Dates

Apr 27 - Rochester, NY - Montage Music Hall
Apr 28 - Boston, MA - The Sinclair
Apr 29 - Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg
Apr 30 - Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda's
May 2 - Washington, DC - Union Stage
May 3 - Richmond, VA - The Camel
May 5 - Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle
May 6 - Atlanta, GA - The Masquerade
May 7 - Orlando, FL - The Social
May 8 - Tampa, FL - Crowbar
May 10 - Nashville, TN - High Watt
May 12 - Cleveland, OH - Beachland Ballroom
May 13 - Buffalo, NY - Rec Room
May 14 - Detroit, MI - The Loving Touch
May 31 - Chicago, IL - Lincoln Hall
June 1 - Minneapolis, MN - 7th St. Entry
June 3 - Omaha, NE - Reverb Lounge
June 4 - Denver, CO - Globe Hall
June 6 - Albuquerque, NM - Launchpad
June 7 - Phoenix, AZ - Valley Bar
June 8 - Palm Springs, CA - Agua Caliente Casino
June 9 - Los Angeles, CA - Teragram Ballroom
June 10 - San Diego, CA - The Casbah
June 11 - Santa Ana, CA - Constellation Room
June 12 - San Francisco, CA - The Independent
June 14 - Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge
June 15 - Seattle, WA - Neumos
June 17 - Victoria, BC - Capitol Ballroom
June 18 - Vancouver, BC - Rickshaw Theatre
June 20 - Calgary, AB - Commonwealth Bar & Stage
June 21 - Red Deer, AB - Bo's Bar & Grill
June 23 - Edmonton, AB - The Starlite Room
June 24 - Saskatoon, SK - The Capitol Music Club
June 25 - Winnipeg, MB - Park Theatre

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