“Inherently bittersweet, a hopeful vision of the future shadowed by the suggestion such community remains just a dream,” was how we described runo plum‘s single ‘Lemon Garland’ back in July, though for all of its conflicted mood, fondness won out on the end. As we continued, “the lasting feeling is one of affection. As though it wishing for something so simple and fulfilling, runo plum shows our desires need not be so far away.”
The track was the first from patching, the debut runo plum record coming this autumn on Winspear. The album sees the Minneapolis songwriter introduce a new stage of her sound, building upon the affectionate folk foundations she’s developed over the last handful of years into something deeper, with Lutalo and Noa Francis joining to elevate the project into a full band.
Latest single ‘Sickness’ highlights the newfound emotional power of this style. plum has lost none of the tenderness which so marked earlier releases, but is now even better equipped to elucidate the highs and lows of life. Outlining the experience of psychosomatic illness and the constant self-awareness such a phenomenon demands, the track is notably unguarded in tone. One honest about the myriad of afflictions which visit the chronically worried body, yet, like ‘Lemon Garland’ before it, unable to lose a sense of hope in something better and more comfortable.
inevitably, i’ll fall under weather
and then baby blue, i’m gonna find that feather
on the flip side, it’ll be greener tonight
there’s always something new, right?
Watch the video by Marlowe Lee below:
patching will be released on the 14th November via Winspear and you can pre-order it from the runo plum Bandcamp page.
Photo by Alexa Viscius