EP, LP, Mini-LP…call it what you will but there’s no denying that the debut from Marriages was and is utterly brilliant. The six tracks comprised in that recording picked up the post-rock torch from Isis and rose from the ashes of Red Sparowes to create something wholly unique driven by Emma Ruth Rundle’s unparalleled vocals.
Since Kitsune was released in 2012, Marriages has toured endlessly, added Andrew Clinco on drums as a permanent member and let Rundle’s freak flag fly as she released solo album Some Heavy Ocean last year making Salome, Marriages first “proper” album, a truly inspired body of work with layers upon layers of masterful strokes carefully brushed upon a gorgeous musical canvas.
Remember back when Rage Against The Machine came out and everyone was orgasmic for the way Tom Morello used his instrument and the sounds he created with his guitar? Well, the manipulations Rundle creates on opener “The Liar” could teach Morello a thing or two. And whereas Rundle tended to hide her voice behind effects and the heaping mound of sound the songs called for on Kitsune, on Salome Rundle (Perhaps inspired by her stunning solo album) is definitely in the forefront and shines on each of the album’s nine tracks.
Clinco adds a new dimension to the Marriages mix meshing into a glorious synchronicity with Greg Burns’ bass during “Skin” and elsewhere morphing into a tribal industrial groove on the title track. “Binge” is like this, ahem, marriage of Failure and PJ Harvey as Rundle channels the songstress while “Love, Texas” invokes The Cure with its’ spaced-out effects laden guitar lines and “Skin” hearkens back to Kitsune yet is light years beyond sonically. Like the rest of Salome.
Salome is out through Sargent House on April 7th. A plethora of pre-order packages can be found here.