Album Review: On Dark Horses by Emma Ruth Rundle

Emanating with a hauntingly pacifying aura, singer-songwriter Emma Ruth Rundle continues to magnify her presence as an exhibitor of goth-folk splendor with each and every project she has influence over. This is no different with her latest record titled On Dark Horses. While Rundle's work with Red Sparrowes, Marriages and The Nocturnes should not go without mentioning, the Los Angeles native has beamed with singularity ever since she self-released her solo debut Electric Guitar: One, back in 2011.

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Since emerging in 2008 with the dark psych-folk project Nocturnes, Emma Ruth Rundle has kept up a hectic schedule, carving out a huge swath of sonic real estate both as a solo artist and with her shoegaze outfit Marriages -- she also joined stalwart post-metal instrumentalists Red Sparowes in 2011. The follow-up to 2016's cathartic Marked for Death, On Dark Horses continues to pick at the darkness within, but with significantly more empathy than its predecessor. Rundle's singular blend of swirling post-rock and doomy gothic metal feels remarkably intimate, even when the decibels are being pushed into the stratosphere.

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As a musician, Emma Ruth Rundle is full of contradictions. Drawing from elements such as folk, post-rock and drone, her work balances the slow, dark impulses of Chelsea Wolfe and the dreamy folkiness of Marissa Nadler. She has her feet planted firmly in two worlds, but on her latest record, Rundle is able to combine these influences in new and intriguing ways.   While On Dark Horses lacks the punishing nature of Wolfe's catalogue, Rundle doesn't shy away from some of the heavier elements Wolfe's work embraces. On the slower "Dead Set Eyes ….

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