The singer and guitarist for California post-rock/psych-metal outfit Marriages, a member of Isis-connected post-rockers Red Sparowes, and frontwoman for atmospheric psych-folk/slowcore collective Nocturnes, singer/songwriter, guitarist, and visual artist Emma Ruth Rundle is also an accomplished solo artist. Since debuting in 2014 with the acclaimed gothic folk/post-rock effort Some Heavy Ocean, Rundle has issued a string of evocative albums, including a 2020 collaboration with Louisiana sludge metallers Thou and 2021's stripped-down and unflinching Engine of Hell. Raised in Los Angeles and based out of Louisville, Kentucky, Rundle issued a collection of ambient, experimental guitar compositions through Bandcamp before releasing a proper solo album. The resulting Some Heavy Ocean was released in May 2014. It's an evocative and cathartic set of Mazzy Star-meets-Swans space/post-folk-rock was written and was recorded at the home studio of Sargent House (the Echo Park-based indie label that issued the band's debut, Kitsune). After the 2015 release of Marriages' Salome, Rundle issued her brooding sophomore studio LP, Marked for Death, again on Sargent House, in 2016. The Time Between Us, a split EP with Jayle Jayle, the dark roots project of Young Widows' Evan Patterson, arrived in 2017, followed by Rundle's third full-length solo effort, the equestrian-themed On Dark Horses, in 2018. Two years later, Rundle collaborated with Thou for the doomy post-grunge-inspired full-length May Our Chambers Be Full. The album was a success with fans and critics alike, and in January of 2021, The Helm of Sorrow was released, a companion EP of four similarly crafted songs. Later that year, Rundle released the stark and intimate solo LP Engine of Hell, which included the evocative single "Return." ~ James Christopher Monger