The art of Emma Ruth Rundle is never particularly sunny. 2021’s Engine Of Hell, as gorgeous as its stripped-back presentation was, is called Engine Of Hell. The year prior, the singer collaborated with Thou—the band who, more than any other, manages to sound like they are reaching to scrape the floor of hell itself—for the glorious May Our Chambers Be Full. It opened with a song called The Killing Floor, too, which leads us to Rundle’s sixth solo effort These Killing Times, billed as her making “a hopeful record.”
It’s as hopeful as can be for a singer that resides in dark folky realms (most notably in the Nocturnes). Held within one of the most unnerving album covers in recent memory, and conveyed through mystical videos inspired by puppetry legend Jim Henson—Rundle being a multi-disciplinary visual artist, too—are eight tales picturing the real world through a lens of the fantastical and strange.
As such, both joy and suffering coincide often, as if Rundle is always being held back from hitting fully optimistic territory. Powerless is titularly sad, but sounds anything but with a nearly anthemic indie-rock hit second half, building up lyrics about destruction and rebirth in the same sentence: “let me die here with a hammer in my hand, one for smashing, one for making something better.” The full-band weight exhibited in past band Marriages and solo peak On Dark Horses returns, with vigour provided by drummer Jess Gowrie and close collaborator Troy Zeigler, and Rundle’s voice being so prominent in the mix captures every the twitch and strained breath no matter how gentle or bracing the backing instrumental.
God’s Picture encapsulates the former and is, again, not so cheery with its climate-crisis slant and an ambivalent godhead figure watching on—“God’s got a picture of the whole world burning, down to the details of his hot white ash, up in the high hall, the jasmine blooming”—but its subdued guitars and subtle balm of a saxophone are delightful. Piano flourishes on Don’t Delay Heaven are too, while chunky riffs feature on Catherine Wheel (with leads provided by Baroness’ Gina Gleason); a more immediate track whose unresolved feeling, stopping after Rundle’s great delivery of “come take a spin on my Catherine wheel…”, works a treat to make you wish it would continue playing for weeks.
There’s no shortage of confidence in Rundle’s delivery across the board, as the album’s prominent ringleader over the top of some excellent collaborative work going on. The way the eight-minute Human Kindness unfurls is exquisite, and the lines “Fall, human kind! I am full of the milk of human kindness!” are highly evocative before we even reach closer Oceans Of Time, a title resembling a Legend Of Zelda release, with angelic choral work making it feel just as vivid, warm, and mysterious as the gaming franchise’s aesthetics.
No matter whether Emma Ruth Rundle wants to provide an isolated candle-lit showcase, or go full pelt with sludge’s best, every new project recaptures a certain mood that could come from no other artist. These Killing Times only propels her idiosyncratic songwriting forward again: simultaneously shadowy yet cosy, dour yet euphoric, and so a perfect backdrop for each of us trying to remain positive in an age that tries to strip all of that away.
For fans of: Chelsea Wolfe, Cult Of Luna, Midwife
‘These Killing Times’ by Emma Ruth Rundle is released on 18th September on Errant Child.
Words by Elliot Burr
