Saturday, 13 October 2018

EP: RUNAH - Ghosts

RUNAH - Ghosts
Photo: @stilphil28


Info: Dublin-based contemporary folk artist RUNAH released her second EP 'Ghosts' only yesterday. Having discussed mental health on her previous EP 'We Only Go To Church In Winter', here she embarks on a discussion of the cyclical nature of life, the wild-woman and ageism. 

Each of RUNAH's four tracks on her new EP Ghosts begin with the sounds of the outside world; rainfall, the sea, birds signing and the crackling of fire, interestingly all ancient sounds older than human-kind itself. The title-track's opening guitar progression sets the mystical and haunting mood of the EP in motion, her vocal acting as a conduit in order to establish a channel of communication between the environment and the listener.

If 'Ghosts' was the summoning, 'Calling' is the subsequent incantation that pulls us under RUNAH's spell and carries us by the hand through the dark forest of her world. I love the use of real-life sounds, such as the treading on crisp leaves, distant avian calls and the rush of water, in a time where we are disconnected in so many different ways, it's a timely reminder of what truly matters.

RUNAH - 'Ghosts'

There's a soft sweetness to 'Age', it's cast in an old world folk-blues vocal, with a lovely jazz bass and twinkling sad piano. Here the artist happily and honestly shares a certain vulnerability with us, and it's okay. At this point it's important to also acknowledge RUNAH's voice, it is crystal and true, no imitations, no manipulations or distractions from the words she utters. 

The hints of neopagan themes up until now rise up to face us on closing track 'Demons'. A powerful vocal clears all of the mist that has gathered to this point and opens up an entire other world, the one that the artist is connected to, and has been inviting us to visit over the course of Ghosts. There has been a humble grandeur to the entire affair, accompanied by the finest of musicianship and an imagination that breathes life into story, RUNAH has a gift at creating the most enchanting, and at times, unsettling, of worlds.


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