New Ruins

New Ruins crafts shadowy pop that merges tuneful enjoyment with the gloom of electric guitars. The act began as a two-person recording endeavor built around Elzie Sexton, who supplied vocals, guitars, and keyboards, alongside J. Caleb Means, who contributed vocals and guitar. Both musicians grew up in southern Illinois and became close friends while still in their early teens. At age 14 they started a punk rock band and kept working together on assorted projects until each left for college. Means moved north to attend film school while Sexton headed south to an art college, yet the two stayed connected by playing music together during breaks and mailing each other tapes of works in progress. After graduation they both returned to Illinois and settled in the Champaign-Urbana area, where Means opened the small Boombox Studios. In time free from client sessions, Means joined Sexton on new material, and New Ruins came into being in 2004. The duo functioned strictly as a studio project for a year before beginning occasional live shows in summer 2005 and soon adding a rhythm section of bassist Paul Chastain and drummer Roy Ewing. In 2006 they recorded their first full album, The Sound They Make, which Hidden Agenda Records released in spring 2007.