Get ready for a track which persuades the listener to peel off the layers of identity and enter into reflection. ‘Angels’ is the latest track from Manchester-born now Dublin based artist RUNAH – and the final single to be lifted from her debut EP, We Only Go To Church In Winter.
It’s the type of music which tempts you in – opening with mystical notes which set out a soundscape overlaid with an utterly captivating vocal quality. This is sound which drives sensation, a track unashamed of its capacity to evoke feeling.
In the opening lines RUNAH sets down the symbolism as “the angel’s standing at my door with fire in her hands;” the words crafted with clarity, introducing themes of self-awareness and a certain emotive power which seems to be a signature quality of her music.
As heard in the track ‘This Silence’ – reviewed here at Bitter Sweet Symphonies last year – RUNAH is no stranger to exploring themes of the mind and its mysterious depths. Whilst ‘This Silence’ melted minimalism together with heightened vocals, the dynamics of ‘Angels’ are different, notably the increasing progression of the track as it goes on, thickening, fascinating beats building with the vocal range.
Melody advances and the rhythm rises to match in ‘Angels,’ the layers of verses lusciously interspersed with harmonies. Lines like “the sweetest sight I have seen” mixing sensory reception with reflection – and RUNAH doesn’t shy away from the complex either, with the beats becoming increasingly so.
It can be a difficult task to combine so many rhythms with a strong vocal, but RUNAH achieves the balance well – as the lyrics reflect themselves “I am an angel but I have lost my way? / I walk this wire in my mind each day.” A track which takes on the tightropes of the mind – and brings reward.
The new single ‘Angels’ is out now – available to purchase on iTunes here.
