Album Review: Kitsune by Marriages

I guess you could call this an EP: Six tracks, all of which sort of melt into the other, a slow and lush mode and quiet howl of guitar notes afloat and occupying every available nook of audible background. Marriages, a trio comprised of Red Sparowes members Emma Ruth Rundle (vocals/guitar), Greg Burns (bass/synth) and David Clifford (drums), approach their new release, Kitsune, with grace and tone, air and drama, its six songs a cohesive array of sounds that are both haunting and captivating. Its intro alone, the opening notes of the ghostly Ride In My Place, induces shivers.

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Marriages' debut is a wonderfully thickly textured release. Comprising six tracks of heavy, swirling guitars and the occasional distant vocals of Emma Rundle, Kitsune evokes a sensation of departing-consciousness - the gentle noise before sleep or the static background sounds of transmission. Marriages accordingly turn the volume up or down on their compositions to phase the listener through states of alertness, from near silence to overwhelming power chords.

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Marriages is the latest branch to be added to the increasingly large and complex Isis family tree. Members of the dearly departed post-metalers formed the slow-burning post-rock unit Red Sparowes, and in turn, Marriages was formed entirely from members of that band. In addition to this connection, guitarist/vocalist Emma Ruth Rundle and drummer Dave Clifford also play in the Nocturnes, a band built primarily around Rundle's self-described "folkgaze" songwriting.

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