Supersonic Festival are delighted to welcome gothic folk artist Emma Ruth Rundle to Birmingham as part of her EU/UK tour to accompany the release of her new album Engine of Hell.
THURS 11 AUGUST 2022
BRADSHAW HALL, ROYAL BIRMINGHAM CONSERVATOIRE
DOORS 7.30pm
| TICKETS £20 | TICKETS AVAILABLE ON THE DOOR
SHOW FAQS
Venue: Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Bradshaw Hall, 200 Jennens Rd, Birmingham B4 7XR
Parking: Millennium Point Car Park, Birmingham, B4 7AP
Tickets: Available on the door for £20 (cash or card)
Accessibility: The venue is fully accessible, there is a lift on the ground floor. This is a seated show.
Timings: Doors – 19:30, Jo Quail – 20:00, Emma Ruth Rundle – 21:00, Curfew – 22:30
Emma Ruth Rundle has always been a multifaceted musician, equally capable of dreamy abstraction, maximalist textural explorations, and the classic acoustic guitar singer-songwriter tradition. But on Engine of Hell, her new album, Rundle focuses on an instrument that she left behind in her early twenties when she began playing in bands: the piano.
In combination with her voice, Emma’s piano playing creates a kind of intimacy, as if we’re sitting beside her on the bench, or perhaps even playing the songs ourselves. In the stunning setting of Royal Birmingham Conservatoire’s concert hall, this sublime musicianship will only be amplified and this sense of intimacy heightened.
Sonically, Emma captures the imperfection and the vulnerability of humanity. “Here are some very personal songs; here are my memories; here is me teetering on the very edge of sanity dipping my toe into the outer reaches of space and I’m taking you with me and it’s very f****d up and imperfect.”
Support comes from internationally acclaimed composer and virtuoso cellist Jo Quail. Equally at home on stage solo, with bands – or in collaboration with choir and orchestra – she combines an eloquent mastery of her instrument with innovative looping techniques, to realise her complex, evocative music for audiences worldwide.
She began her music studies at an early age, and her work extends to masterclasses and interactive workshops on composition, performance, looping, effects and sound modelling. She has written several pieces specifically intended for a wide combination of instruments, and mixed ability among the players, and performed them with a range of ensembles at home and abroad. She is undoubtedly a solo artist with a cooperative and inclusive mentality.
Inspired by the visual arts as much as by fellow composers, Jo cites Barbara Hepworth and Georgia O’Keefe as key influences, alongside the diverse music of Debussy, Pärt, Tool, and Trent Reznor. As a result, she freely crosses the boundaries between genres, awakening listener emotions, and taking audiences into uncharted territory with each concert. Her exuberant, celebratory performance style has won her a fanbase in the contemporary classical world as well as among enthusiasts of post-rock, metal and electronica.
