Emma Ruth Rundle and Jaye Jayle share a very similar musical kinship. Both artists may sound different on the surface, but the blackened emotion and soul-searching desperation of their writing finds common ground between the two. Across the six tracks on ‘The Time Between Us’, each of their respective contributions fit together like the missing pieces of a puzzle.
For Rundle, ‘The Time Between Us’ comes less than six months after her stunning 2016 album, ‘Marked For Death’. Far from just a quickly thrown together follow up, the new tracks chosen for this release are every bit as heart-wrenching as the aforementioned LP. It picks up where Rundle left off last year, and is an extension of her ability to pick apart the human condition.
‘The Distance’ is soaked with incandescent reverb that echoes underneath Rundle’s stirring delivery. The eerie, dissonant guitars wash over rattling drums, every so often giving way to glimmers of hope among the haunting atmosphere. It decays into the substantially brighter ‘To Fold In England (Hours)’, where weeping strings provide a mournful undercurrent to subtly picked leads and layered, hypnotic vocal passages.
Rundle’s final gift on ‘The Time Between Us’ is a raw, stripped back version of ‘Hand Of God’. In its bare bones format, it exposes the achingly beautiful way in which she draws every bit of emotion out and into her art, cutting like a soft knife.
With Jaye Jayle, otherwise known as Evan Patterson of Young Widows, ‘The Time Between Us’ showcases something different. He blends country-tinged blues with the repetitive hypnosis of krautrock to create unique, unusual compositions.
As sparse synth leads slowly build into a southern twang on ‘About Time You Came To Me’, the dichotomy of styles somehow work together. It makes for an interesting listen that hooks you in to something rarely heard in this day and age. ‘Unnecessary’ harks back to NEU!, and the lighter side of Swans, while Patterson’s monotone vocal sits atop a churning funnel of mesmerising soundscapes.
Rounding out Jaye Jayle’s half is the disjointed, dystopian blues ballad ‘Hope Faith County’. It gives Patterson the chance to ask his muse, “Space girl, have you finally found me?” over and over in his trademark grizzly drawl.
Rather than just two artists putting together a release for the sake of it, there is thought and agenda with ‘The Time Between Us’. From the artwork and visuals, to the feel and direction the release takes, it’s cohesive in every aspect. The Bond Emma Ruth Rundle and Jaye Jayle share is extended further than just being on the same label, and they compliment each other perfectly.
GLEN BUSHELL