Emma Ruth Rundle – “Darkhorse”

Emma Ruth Rundle – “Darkhorse”

Fever Dreams,” the lead single from Emma Ruth Rundle’s new album On Dark Horses, was so good that we put it on our list of the week’s best songs. Today the towering rock balladeer is back with that album’s quasi-title track, “Darkhorse.”

The album version of “Darkhorse” tops six minutes, but Rundle has delivered a more compact edit just under four. It maintains its sense of high drama anyway, merging the cinematic impulses of Rundle’s former LA home base with a darkly rustic vision of her new Kentucky locale. Against ominously pounding drums, the music rises around Rundle’s vocals as if she’s summoning the elements into a dance. The resulting sound is something like somber Americana rendered in rich gothic splendor. She’s too good at this.

Hear “Darkhorse” below.

On Dark Horses is out 9/14 on Sargent House.

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