The Rubens Essentials
Apple Music
Pulling suave pop and R&B inflections from warm and bluesy rock, Australian five-piece The Rubens boast a laidback confidence that comes from three of their members being brothers. Singer/guitarist Sam Margin is especially sure-footed, whether drawling out the earworm title phrase of 2012’s breakthrough “My Gun”—which plays like a slower, rootsier answer to The Black Keys—or nailing the quicksilver flow of lyrics for the chorus of 2020’s “Masterpiece”. Piano ballad “Never Ever” pairs his coolly roughened voice with mononymous guest Sarah for an emotional duet that ends with a playful surprise.