No matter where you start with Emma Ruth Rundle and how amazing that first encounter may be; chances are pretty high that you will still gloriously underestimate her. She's just a way too complex and multi-faceted artist to give away all her talents in one single instance.
Guitarist, singer/songwriter, composer, but also painter and photographer. It seems like if something stirs her interest, she will obsess over it and inavoidably utilize it in manner which is much more than just presentable. Just look to what amazing fruition her interest in video and theater has come in the visual companions to her last album "Engine of Hell"!
One other art form in which she truly exceeds is understatement. Talking about her latest work - which she naturally doesn't do that much, since she's still touring with the previous album - she's jokingly using terms like weird art project and chose to introduce it to us with the for many fans probably most alienating video single track possible. It's almost as if she was flirting with the idea of this work (which had actually already been completely finished before she had even started writing "Engine") being a failure. Which of course it absolutely isn't.
Guitarist, singer/songwriter, composer, but also painter and photographer. It seems like if something stirs her interest, she will obsess over it and inavoidably utilize it in manner which is much more than just presentable. Just look to what amazing fruition her interest in video and theater has come in the visual companions to her last album "Engine of Hell"!
One other art form in which she truly exceeds is understatement. Talking about her latest work - which she naturally doesn't do that much, since she's still touring with the previous album - she's jokingly using terms like weird art project and chose to introduce it to us with the for many fans probably most alienating video single track possible. It's almost as if she was flirting with the idea of this work (which had actually already been completely finished before she had even started writing "Engine") being a failure. Which of course it absolutely isn't.
EMMA RUTH RUNDLE - Electric Guitar 2: Dowsing Voice (transparent red vinyl LP) (2022)
Rundle's first solo album in 2011 was a droning atmospheric instrumental work, developed during touring with Red Sparowes in 2010 exclusively on guitar and aptly named "Electric Guitar I". Obviously this is a continuation of that debut, but the premise is a little bit different, since this time she's also using field recordings and - even more important - her voice.
I hear what you're asking: Why then not just treating it like a regular album? The answer (or at least a part of it) is that the vocals here are improvised and very different from what we're used to hear from her, the challenging single "In The Cave Of The Cailleach's Death-Birth" with its Inuit style throat singing only being the most obvious example.
Where "EG 1" had track titles like "Oslo" or "Göteburg" indicating the places of their inception, most of "Dowsing Voice" depicts a different, much more ancient and mystical journey, inspired by Emma Ruth Rundle traveling on her own through Wales for one month in 2020, while the final track "In Sadness For Our Dying World", which features guest vocals from Mizmor's A.L.N. was recorded in Loisville, Kentucky. That's at least how I understand it without the photographic art book, which accompanies a limited edition of the album and probably introduces some more context than just the track titles.
But luckily you're not inevitably dependent on further context or explanation to enjoy this extremely evocative music.
I hear what you're asking: Why then not just treating it like a regular album? The answer (or at least a part of it) is that the vocals here are improvised and very different from what we're used to hear from her, the challenging single "In The Cave Of The Cailleach's Death-Birth" with its Inuit style throat singing only being the most obvious example.
Where "EG 1" had track titles like "Oslo" or "Göteburg" indicating the places of their inception, most of "Dowsing Voice" depicts a different, much more ancient and mystical journey, inspired by Emma Ruth Rundle traveling on her own through Wales for one month in 2020, while the final track "In Sadness For Our Dying World", which features guest vocals from Mizmor's A.L.N. was recorded in Loisville, Kentucky. That's at least how I understand it without the photographic art book, which accompanies a limited edition of the album and probably introduces some more context than just the track titles.
But luckily you're not inevitably dependent on further context or explanation to enjoy this extremely evocative music.
Between floating ambient sounds and twangy half-acoustic licks, which bring back to mind her being a collaborator on Dylan Carlson's "Conquistador", this album spans a remarkably wide range within its eerie minimalistic framework. And that's not even considering the vocals, which showcase Emma Ruth Rundle in her most versatile form as she switches from her usual soft and wailing expressions to snarling fry tones, myrkuresque banshee voices and experimentations in Galas tradition, which you would rather expect from her Sargent House labelmate Lingua Ignota.
I can relate to the artist downplaying this work, since a lot of it is only based on improvisation and recorded only with an iphone. In truth however "Electric Guitar 2: Downsing Voice" stands on its own just as strong as any other release Emma Ruth Rundle has ever been involved in. You can even understand it as the dark subconscious twin of "Engine Of Hell", which is similar in its emotional directness and stripped-down character. It's just a much more ghostly side of this coin.
Of course some fans who lean more to the classic singer/songwriter narrative will have problems with it. But even if it may not be your cup of cake, I think it's mandatory to applaud an artist who constantly explores new sides of herself and finds the bravery to step far out of her known comfort zone.
This album goes so far with that - if you had handed it to me with a couple of Chinese letters and a WV Sorcerer Productions logo on the cover, I would have probably believed you that this a whole different experimental musician. Who from time to time reminds me of Emma Ruth Rundle of course.
And I know that Wales isn't located in Asia - just in case you're wondering.
I can relate to the artist downplaying this work, since a lot of it is only based on improvisation and recorded only with an iphone. In truth however "Electric Guitar 2: Downsing Voice" stands on its own just as strong as any other release Emma Ruth Rundle has ever been involved in. You can even understand it as the dark subconscious twin of "Engine Of Hell", which is similar in its emotional directness and stripped-down character. It's just a much more ghostly side of this coin.
Of course some fans who lean more to the classic singer/songwriter narrative will have problems with it. But even if it may not be your cup of cake, I think it's mandatory to applaud an artist who constantly explores new sides of herself and finds the bravery to step far out of her known comfort zone.
This album goes so far with that - if you had handed it to me with a couple of Chinese letters and a WV Sorcerer Productions logo on the cover, I would have probably believed you that this a whole different experimental musician. Who from time to time reminds me of Emma Ruth Rundle of course.
And I know that Wales isn't located in Asia - just in case you're wondering.
This a great exploration of wordlessly poetic myth, a wonderful soundtrack to legends that have never been. Can this artist even ever do wrong?
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