Emma Ruth Rundle, is a LA-based musician who has had her hands very full with three current projects, the Nocturnes – described as folkgaze, folk-stoner-rock-sadcore – Marriages – not sure what they sound like but they have opened for Russian Circles and Deafheaven – and Red Sparowes – described as a post-rock ensemble producing epic heavy and sprawling sounds – and, as if it wasn’t enough already, she has released a debut solo album about a month ago. Some people definitively never rest, and Emma played an in-store gig at Amoeba on Thursday night to celebrate the release of ‘Some Heavy Ocean’ on Sargent House. I had never heard of her or one of her multiple projects, but was quite impressed by such a pedigree.
She gave a short but intense set, all alone with her electric guitar and multiple pedals, producing some ambient, experimental lugubrious reverb-tinted soundscapes inhabited by her breathy and vulnerable voice, and it was part eerie, part haunting. She reminded me a bit about Chelsea Wolfe, probably because I had seen the metal-goth-folk artist just the day before, but it certainly was this same brand of lament-heavy ghostly music, that same bring-your-mood-down tone. There were occasional and abrupt angry vocal outbursts, like during ‘Shadows of My Name’, but overall the whole thing was a cold and deep dark hole. Some songs started as if they would be some sad acoustic folk ballads, but they would eventually turn into something more abstract and experimental, even hypnotic, throbbing suffering and a deep pain. I read that she recorded this album after ‘dark, difficult time’, ‘marked by family problems and personal struggles’, which is not difficult to imagine as every note was breathing sadness and desperation. She briefly talked to the crowd during a long tuning, but beside this connection, she was immersed in her enigmatic music.
I have streamed her songs on bandcamp, and, may be because of the fuller orchestration, the songs sound much more cheerful than they ever did when I heard them live at Amoeba. I could hardly see her face masked by her long straight hair and this was accentuating the mystery she was building with her super-atmospheric gloomy music. Her guitar work seemed quite original and she was getting some unique sound, producing all kinds of interesting sounds with her numerous pedals, whereas she was sometimes almost whispering her lyrics before going into a passionate full blast of emotive vocals. Despite my total ignorance on the Emma Ruth Rundle subject, she had managed to draw an interesting crowd.
She will soon embark for a long tour through July and August, solo or with her band Marriages, so this confirms that this girl never rests.
Jun 25 – Denver, CO @ Larimer Lounge
Jun 28 – Milwaukee, WI @ Shank Hall *
June 29 – Chicago, IL @ Subterranean ^
Jun 30 – Grand Rapids, MI @ The Pyramid Scheme *
Jul 01 – Columbus, OH @ A&R Music Bar *
Jul 02 – Hamtramck, MI @ Small’s Bar *
Jul 03 – Cleveland Heights, OH @ Grog Shop *
Jul 05 – Syracuse, NY @ The Westcott Theater *
Jul 06 – South Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground *
Jul 07 – Portland, ME @ Port City Music Hall *
Jul 09 – Dover, NH @ Dover Brick House *
Jul 12 – Hamden, CT @ Ballroom at Outerspace *
Jul 13 – Brooklyn, NY @ Saint Vitus ^*
Jul 15 – Philadelphia, PA @ Bourbon & Branch ^*
Jul 16 – Washington, DC @ DC9 ^*
Jul 18 – Charlottesville, VA @ The Southern *
Jul 19 – Charlotte, NC @ Visulite Theatre *
Jul 20 – Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle *
Jul 22 – Atlanta, GA @ The Basement *
Jul 23 – Birmingham, AL @ The Bottletree *
Jul 26 – Houston, TX @ Warehouse Live *
Jul 27 – Austin, TX @ Red 7 *
Jul 28 – San Antonio, TX @ Limelight *
Jul 30 – Tucson, AZ @ Club Congress *
Jul 31 – Pioneertown, CA @ Pappy and Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace
Aug 27 – Dublin, Ireland @ Button Factory – Sargent House Label show w/ Russian Circles, And So I Watch You From Afar, Tera Melos, Mylets & No Spill Blood.
* Supporting King Buzzo
^ w/ Dave Davison (Maps & Atlases)
^* w/ Stephen Brodsky (Mutoid Man)
Emma Ruth Rundle In Marriages on tour:
Aug 16 – Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile # ^
Aug 17 – Vancouver, BC @ Rickshaw Theatre # ^
Aug 18 – Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge # ^
Aug 20 – San Francisco, CA @ The Independent #
Aug 21 – Santa Cruz, CA @ The Catalyst Atrium #
Aug 22 – San Luis Obispo @ SLO Brew #
# w/ Boris
^ w/ Master Musicians of Bukkake
