Ten Paces

On their third album, Los Angeles-by-way-of-Scunthorpe, England duo Ruen Brothers conjure a widescreen atmosphere of 1950s noir and Western imagery thats given an even further twist with their bold contemporary pop accents. Its a cinematic vibe that the real-life siblings -- lead singer/guitarist Henry Stansall and singer/instrumentalist Rupert Stansall -- first introduced on their 2018 Rick Rubin-produced debut, All My Shades of Blue, and further expanded on the follow-up, Ultramodern. But where their first album felt like an attempt at making an unabashed Roy Orbison production, Ultramodern (whose title was both a cheeky reference to the postwar 50s obsession with modernism and a winky nod to the pairs own anachronistic influences) found them incorporating a synthy, contemporary pop aesthetic into their sound. On Ten Paces, they split the difference, digging deeper into their 50s-inspired sound while also crafting pop hooks that wouldnt sound out of place on a record by the Killers. Conceptually, Ten Paces is built upon a conscious mix of film noir and cowboy Western tropes, and cuts like "Slow Draw," "Bullet Blues," and "Hi-Yo" find the duo transforming the pulpy themes into catchy, metaphorical pop anthems. They explicitly highlight the concept on the romantic "Dont Know Whats Come Over You," singing "Like a sci-fi dream/Or a story in the west/That I dont wanna see/Though I wanna know the end." Vocally, singer Henry Stansalls wavering, hardboiled Willie Nelson croon is a perfect fit for this type of stylized pop, ably straddling the matinee idol line between Chris Isaak and Bryan Ferry. Theres also a shadowy sense of paranoia running through the album, as in "The Fear," where Stansall yearns for his lovers embrace, singing "And Im comfy in my bed/Comfy in my home/You can rock my twilight zone." With Ten Paces, Ruen Brothers have crafted an album caught between the dream of a 50s pulp past and the harsh light of the present, one that lives in its own pop twilight zone. ~ Matt Collar