Falcon Ruby – Black Elbows EP

Published April, 2012
by Easterndaze

The Black Elbows is a debut by the young Kiev-based musician Igor going under the name Falcon Ruby. Playing in various local bands since he was 15 he started to record his debut in autumn 2011. The urgent energy of the EP would definitely resonate in the Hungarian lo-fi scene – it is somewhat dark, dirty and has a lo-fi quality thanks to Falcon Ruby recording most of the EP by himself in a local studio.

“Black Elbows is me exposing some strange states i’ve been going through lately. I recorded music back in September/October 2011, but stayed at home the whole winter feeling depressed for no apparent reason. I hated my music at that point and felt utterly lost. But at the end of February some spark was born inside of me, inspiration bestowed upon me. Low days is a focal song of the release, as it just bluntly speaks for itself.”

Falcon Ruby’s inspirations range from his childhood affinity with hardcore punk and screamo to post-hardcore to post-punk and computer games. The lyrics for the opening track were taken from the computer game Football Manager, which Falcon used to play for so long until he got overloaded by the in-game commentaries, interviews and player talks.

“I noticed these idioms and sentences keep piling up in my mind. It almost drove me crazy. So I turned the huddle into a pattern and these lyrics came out not at all about football I guess.”

Also the closing track, the rambling Harmony Ratio has an existential, derailed twist – Igor’s “I turned 13 when I was 21” expresses his current “low” state of mind.

“Frankly that’s exactly how I feel now – as if I’ve just hit puberty in some way.”