RUNAH has always been an impossible artist to pigeonhole, swerving clear of convention at every turn whilst concocting her own unique blend of indie-pop. On this latest double release, featuring A-side ‘Ghost Light‘ and supporting single ‘Let’s Do It All Again,’ she shifts in tone and style once again, paving the way for her eagerly anticipated sophomore LP, set for release later on in 2021.
Lead single ‘Ghost Light’ sets forth with a low-key, minimalist electronic backing, pulsating with a dark energy that gets under your skin from the offset. RUNAH’s vocals never take the obvious route, deftly underplayed at every turn, twisting and overlapping as the track progresses. Inspiration for the number comes from an art installation of the same title, created by a member of RUNAH’s global artistic community, centered around the myth of the “ghost light”—a light that is always left on after closing time in a theatre, so the spirits that dwell there can continue to perform. Nothing could resonate more with those art and performance spaces which have laid empty for the past eighteen months of the pandemic, waiting with their own ghost lights lit in the patient hope that they will be filled with life once again soon.
Whereas ‘Ghost Light’ gives the impression of a conscious, crafted artistic statement, its supporting number, ‘Let’s Do It All Again,’ plays as a direct articulation from the heart. Warmer, softer tones aid the open fragility of the music, and there’s an emotional rawness to its quality, as direct as we’ve heard from RUNAH’s craft to date. As she describes it herself, “There was a period of my life where I felt achingly lonely, I felt like my mind was overwhelming me and I struggled to make sense of life. I used to get confused about what felt real and what didn’t. ‘Let’s Do It All Again’ is about a time when I couldn’t sleep because I felt like the dark would swallow me, and being awake wasn’t much easier”. Again, this will surely resonate with a great many of us and our collective experiences of isolation and loneliness. It’s this feeling of a deeply personal experience, translated into something universal, that really sets this number apart, particularly in the spellbinding spoken-word segment that plays out the song.
Whilst each of these tracks impresses individually, it’s taken together that they provide a vivid snapshot of an artist in constant flux, challenging and reevaluating their art at every turn. They’re a perfect accompaniment to two previously released singles, ‘Same Face’ and ‘Edit,’ that will make up a part of RUNAH’s forthcoming LP. Stellar production comes courtesy of Beardfire Music, the studio behind Patricia Lalor, KTG and All The Queen’s Horses, run by veteran producer and songwriter David Virgin and his sons Rohan Healy and Al Quiff.
‘Ghost Light’ and ‘Let’s Do It All Again’ are both out now via US-based label Bonfire Records – available to Stream/Purchase here.
