The Ruby Suns

The Ruby Suns are an indie pop group from Auckland, New Zealand, formed in 2004. The project is led by Ryan McPhun, who is California-born and a New Zealand citizen. He moves to Auckland after childhood trips to New Zealand and has been making music for years before forming the group, including four-track bedroom recordings that use effects-treated guitar, synthesiser and field-recorded samples. He also plays with The Brunettes and The Tokey Tones.

Line-up and activity

The group is active from 2004 to the present and includes Ryan McPhun, Alistair Deverick, Amee Robinson and Imogen Taylor.

Style and influences

The Ruby Suns work in indie pop and related experimental forms, with a sound built around beats, digital textures, synthesised melodies and McPhun's upper-register vocals. McPhun draws on a wide range of influences, including New Jack Swing, kuduro, Fleetwood Mac, Britney Spears, tropicalia and cumbia.

Albums and releases

The band records and releases its first album on Lil' Chief Records under the name Ryan McPhun and The Ruby Suns. Its second album, Sea Lion, appears on Sub Pop in 2008 and gains a college following in New Zealand as well as year-end recognition. The third album, Fight Softly, continues the group's beat-driven approach while using more artificial-sounding percussion and more obscured, mixed-in vocals.

Tours and collaborations

The Ruby Suns tour Australia with The Shins and the UK with Field Music. They also spend time in Seattle, where they play Sub Pop's 20th anniversary festival and begin work on Fight Softly. During a European tour in 2009, McPhun works with Bevan Smith of Signer, Aspen and Skallander, and Matthew Mitchell of Skallander and Muriel Tsains in a farmhouse outside Szeged, Hungary. Those sessions feed into later songwriting ideas.

Song details

Several songs from Fight Softly have specific settings and references: "Mingus and Pike" refers to the temporary Victorian home shared by the group and its pit bull mascot, Mingus; "Cranberry" draws on a day trip to Cranberry Lake on Fidalgo Island; "Closet Astrologer" begins in Hungary and is finished in New Zealand; "How Kids Fail" takes its title from John Holt's book How Children Fail.