Emma Ruth Rundle has shared “Blooms of Oblivion,” the second single from her upcoming album Engine of Hell, out November 5th.
The track again sees Rundle taking a minimalist approach, guiding the melancholic track with just her voice, piano, and acoustic guitar. Sparse notes and deliberate restraint put the emotions of the song — drawn from an “experience that was too big for her as a child” — into stark focus.
“Down at the methadone clinic we waited / hoping to take home your cure,” Rundle sings with her distinct timbre. “The curdling cowards, the crackle of china / you say that it’s making you pure.”
Rundle co-directed the corresponding music video with John Bradburn, again creating a compelling piece of black-and-white visual art. The physical choreography further elaborates on Rundle’s newfound interest in “ballet and the practice of expression through movement.”
“In the video I use an oversized coat to represent an oversized and burdening experience for the little girl,” Rundle said via press release. “The feeling of being free falling in chaos. Having no control over your circumstances. The song and video describe the feelings I had as a little girl and how that’s shaped who I have become — negotiating with my past and waking to the woman I strive to become through self-love, self parenting and forgiveness and the transformation that it can bring.” Watch the video for “Blooms of Oblivion” below.
Engine of Hell follows Rundle’s 2020 collaboration with sludge metallers Thou and promises to be a quieter affair. You can pre-order the LP via Sargent House.
To support the album release, Rundle announced her first performance since 2019, to take place on November 26th at The Belasco Theater in Los Angeles as part of Substance Fest.
