Listening to Marriages debut album Kitsune is an almost spiritual experience. I don’t mean that listening to the album is going to cause you to find God or anything like that but it will take you to another place with its ghostly musings. The songs here are beautifully epic and will haunt your soul. The credit there goes to singer/guitarist Emma Ruth Rundle whose voice and guitar textures are the soul of Marriages.
The songs released up until now don’t do Kitsune justice. It’s not that the songs aren’t good, because they’re beyond that, but within the realm of Kitsune and the flow they create with the rest of the album they’re perfection. “Ten Tiny Fingers” was incredible on its own but hearing the synth intro at the end of “Body of Shade” which goes directly into “Ten…” will give you goosebumps.
Dave Clifford and Greg Burns add a tremendous amount to the precedings on the drums and bass respectively. “Pelt” sounds as if it began as a jam in the practice space with Burns laying down a steady line under Rundle’s guitar echo. This flows into “White Shape” which Clifford just wails on as Burns ups the bass intricacies and Rundle makes her guitar wail.
My only complaint about Kitsune is that, with only six tracks, it’s short. By the time the Lush-meets-Medicine vibe of “Part The Dark Again” concludes, you’ll be wishing there were another six tracks still to go.
For those that don’t know already, Marriages is a three-piece comprised of members of Red Sparowes. If this were a Red Sparowes release, it would be one track long without vocals. Personally, I prefer it this way and am ready to trade vows with Marriages.
Kitsune will be released on May 1st. Check out the sounds here.
Grade: A