Emma Ruth Rundle, Jaye jayle, Doomina

American singer-songwriter Emma Ruth Rundle works her guitar gently around somber melodies that smell of earth, wood, and fire logs. Gothic folk invested in the power of nature, the sound of her previous bands Red Sparowes and Marriages is heard in her music but the softer, although lyrically preoccupied with overly gloomy themes, touch of her personal approach shines through on all of her three solo albums, the last of which, "Marked For Death" came out on Sargent House in 2016. 

After a previous visit in April 2017, Emma is coming back to Europe for four weeks between November and December, accompanied by fellow Sargent House-recording artists Jaye Jayle (featuring Evan Patterson of Young Widows' fame), who also double up as backing band for Emma. Similarly inclined to reach out for the dark corners of the acoustic crossroads where young bluesmen sold their soul to the devil, they represent the perfect complement to Emma Ruth Rundle death mournings, as evident in the split release "The Time Between Us" they shared in February 2017.

DOOMINA’s sophomore album is lead off by a female voice uttering the words „I died for beauty”. Beauty…a phrase that bears weight and that is impossible to generally define but is generally regarded as pleasant. And Doomina have been making pleasant music since their inception in 2006. The speech sample is slowly engulfed by a piano theme as the additional instruments find their place in the almost 10-minute long title track. Alongside founding member Daniel Gedermann on guitar, the band now consists of Christian Pobaschnig (keyboards, synthesizer, guitar), Erich Kuttnig (drums), Luke Geyer (guitar) and Christian Oberlercher (bass, samples). Gedermann and Oberlercher have been playing together since 2007 but the rest of the band joined the fold in late 2012. “Beauty” is the impressive first output of this new Doomina line up, adding another piece of work to their catalogue which includes the demo “A.O.D” (2006), “March On, Dead Man” (EP, 2008), Hollow (EP, 2009) and their debut album Elsewhere, which was released in 2012. Besides the title track, the album packs songs like “Gizmo”, “Soyuz” and “Sigma Kappa Pi” which all demonstrate Doomina’s new found approach and updated sound, shedding their early stoner rock, sludge and metal affinities. Since day one, Doomina have made a conscious effort to transform their influences in to an original and independent product (both conceptually and through their releases) and even after swelling to a quintet, this approach has not been lost. It wouldn’t be entirely wrong to call their music post rock, but at the same time it sells Doomina’s artistic vision short. Although Daniel Gedermann cites bands like Mogwai and Explosions In The Sky as major influences, Doomina ultimately sound like all and none of these bands. First and foremost, they sound like themselves. Daniel describes it as “emotions set to sound”. These emotions however, should not be vocalized with the help of a human voice but solely by their instrumentation. This aspect takes nothing away from the often majestic climaxes in their music, which by the way should be listened to at a considerable decibel level. To illustrate the point of non verbal narration, “Beauty” tells an entirely different story than “Gizmo” or “Soyuz” which are both different from the closer “Sigma Kappa Pi”. The whole things forms a soundscape with which Doomina have earned their spot as a very special band, not only in an Austrian context. This album was recorded in May of 2013 at Tom Zwanzger’s Stress Studio. In collaboration with the band, he found a sound which literally brings Doomina’s sound to life. Zwanzgers’s 1200mÇ cellar (which accommodates a cosy 8°C) was the ideal place for them to nail their meticulously composed songs take after take until they found the one that they could collectively agree on rocked the most. One of this band’s prime qualities is their ability to effortlessly jump from hard rocking sections to pop-driven and uplifting passages. “Beauty” will be released in September and comes as a beautiful (pun intended) limited vinyl edition with artwork by tattoo artist Marion Bellina. A digital download will also be available. Time will tell how Doomina’s beauty will hold up against the current regional cookie cutter landscape and how many people will be ready and patient enough to give this piece of music the space and time it deserves. Doomina will continue to pursue their inspiration and hopefully won’t have to die for Beauty.