When it comes to band members, there are few artists with their fingers in quite as many figurative pies as Emma Ruth Rundle. With a musical career spanning the best part of a decade and so many differing creative projects, it’s tricky for unfamiliar listeners to know where to begin. Here, I have put together a collection of my favourite Emma Ruth Rundle tracks – from the anguished to the ambient – aiming to find a thread end which will help new listeners to unravel the reel of her discography.
10) Red Sparowes – ‘Giving Birth To Imagined Saviours’
This track has a rock edge and is somewhat bluesy. It is certainly not how one would traditionally imagine post-rock. About three-quarters of the way into the track, however, its pace changes dramatically, almost as if it’s been swept up into a tornado. It may be a little confusing but bear with it, as there’s little chance that this is like anything else you’ve heard.
9) Marriages – ‘Less Than’
More My Bloody Valentine than Mogwai, Marriages prove themselves as kings and queens of noise rock on Salome album track ‘Less Than’. Emma Ruth Rundle’s vocals blend in with the instrumentals here rather than standing out – a change from Marriages’ usual style, but an interesting one. Extra points for the retro ‘80s synth line at the end of the track.
8) Emma Ruth Rundle – ‘Shadows of My Name’
Introducing some of debut LP Some Heavy Ocean’s themes of depression, guilt and regret, Rundle begins ‘I’ve come here wasted and with saddened, selfish things’. Like her works with Red Sparowes, this track takes time to build, with Emma seemingly holding back until she powerfully shouts for reconciliation, ‘I lay back in salt/Please forgive my name’.
7) Emma Ruth Rundle – ‘Medusa’
Despite being on her darker recent release Marked For Death, ‘Medusa’ is a throwback to Emma Ruth Rundle’s earlier, folkier releases. Subtle hints of First Aid Kit and Fleet Foxes are contained within the track’s wavering guitars and the steady metronome rock of its refrain. Her vocals are mighty and even verging on Norah Jones-esque in places.
6) The Nocturnes – ‘London Town’
The Nocturnes specialise in ‘folkgaze’, and this track describes exactly what that means. Guitars are the predominant instruments and the vocal harmonies are soothing, ambient and somniferous. Beats remain regulated as a pendulum, with some gorgeously gentle cymbal tapping completing the picture and giving ‘London Town’ a 1960s hazy feel. This is a lullaby for fans of The Jesus and Mary Chain and The Velvet Underground.