Emma Ruth Rundle Explores the Hopefulness of Mortality in "Real Big Sky"

Photo by Nedda Asfari​

​Emma Ruth Rundle opens her video for "Real Big Sky" with a monologue about appreciating the ethereal. "I don't think there's anything more exhilarating than seeing natural beauty," she says. "It's like seeing things that there aren't words for."

True to that theme, the song and video are haunting, transcendent, and a bunch of other adjectives you might throw out in a vain attempt at describing something whose beauty can't easily be contained with words. Set against the darkness of dusk, the video sees Rundle, the wonderfully gloomy songwriter behind acts like Marriages and Red Sparowes, waxing about the hopefulness of mortality over the discordant yet sweet sounds of her scratchy guitar. "Real Big Sky" is the final song on her crushing new album, Marked for Death. It is, in a word, beautiful.

Marked for Death is out September 30 via Sargent House​, and Emma Ruth Rundle is on tour with Wovenhand. Dates below the video.

​Sep 21   Munich, DE – Ampere

Sep 22   Leipzig, DE – UT Connewitz

Sep 23   Berlin, DE – Heimathafen

Sep 26   Arhus, DK – Train

Sep 29   Helsinki, FI – Tavastia

Sep 30   Stockholm, SE – Nalen

Oct 01    Lund, SE – Mejeriet

Oct 02    Copenhagen, DK – Vega Jr.

Oct 04    Eindhoven, NL – Effenaar

Oct 05    Amsterdam, NL – Melkweg

Oct 06    Leuven, BE – Het Depot

Oct 07    Ghent, BE – Handelsbeurs

Oct 08    Charleroi, BE – L'Eden

Oct 10    Lille, FR – L'Aéronef

Oct 11    Paris, FR – La Maroquinerie

Oct 13    Orleans, FR – L'Astrolabe

Oct 14    Grenoble, FR – La Belle Electrique

Oct 15    Feyzin, FR – L'Epicerie Moderne

Oct 16    Toulouse, FR – La Rex

Oct 18    London, UK – The Dome