Emma Ruth Rundle & Thou – “Ancestral Recall”
Well, here’s one hell of a collaboration: Emma Ruth Rundle and Thou have an album coming out together. It’s called May Our Chambers Be Full, and it’s out in October. The album is the latest in Sacred Bones’ Alliance Series, an ongoing collection of collaborative releases that has also yielded team-ups between Uniform and the Body, as well as Marissa Nadler and Stephen Brodsky.
Along with the announcement, Rundle and Thou have shared a single called “Ancestral Recall” and have spoken a bit about how their partnership worked. “It’s an easy marriage of our styles that was truly enhanced by everyone’s input during the arrangement process,” Thou guitarist Andy Gibbs said in a statement. “When I first wrote the main two riffs (the first one being an homage to A Perfect Circle’s ‘Sleeping Beauty’), I didn’t know if it would fit with the vibe we were pursuing because it didn’t sound ‘Thou-y’ enough nor did it sound like something Emma would normally put on a record. Ultimately, I realized how important that trait is; this record is all about exploring territory we wouldn’t usually explore with our own records.”
Rundle added: “Andy originally wrote the riffs and I believe I referred to it as the ‘Guitar Hero’ jam — it was hard for me to keep up and I felt like I was doing an obstacle course (in the best way). Because of the differences in our guitar tunings, it was difficult for me to match the rest exactly and I ended up coming with a single note passage to play over the most difficult section. For me this was a good example of the collaboration and that I was able to express my style despite my limitations in a way that added to Andy’s riff. Working with him on guitars was a challenge, but most rewarding, and I feel proud of our child.”
As a first glimpse, “Ancestral Recall” is an interesting and intriguing preview of what the two artists cooked up together. Rundle is no stranger to heavy music, but she provides a gloomy and dreamy counterpoint here, singing gentler sections before Thou pull everything into darker territory. It also just sounds huge. Check it out below.
TRACKLIST:
01 “Killing Floor”
02 “Monolith”
03 “Out of Existence”
04 “Ancestral Recall”
05 “Magickal Cost”
06 “Into Being”
07 “The Valley”
May Our Chambers Be Full is out 10/30 via Sacred Bones. Pre-order it here.
