With a title such as “adreamwithinadream,” you will probably have some idea as to what awaits you when you drop the needle on this record, but even such an evocative heading might not prepare you totally for the fever-dream-pop-folk-horror-lullaby that you find yourself cocooned in once there.
And then, having heard the song, it may not come as a complete surprise that this debut release from the Belgian duo is based on a poem by none other than Edgar Allen Poe. Suitably, between the two music makers, singer Isa Desmet and fiddle player Uther Smis, they seem more interested in weaving their own seductive and scary sonic world rather than anything as mundane as just making music.
If some songs are about melody, ru.is makes music that is more concerned with mood and emotion. An acoustic guitar gently tethers the song, violin lines ebb and flow, soaring, shifting, scratching, and scraping as they go, not just heard by carving a presence across the sonic landscape. The longer the song goes on, the more feverish it becomes; the vocals turn to a dark mantra or a ritual chant, and the melody moves out of the realms of folk finesse and towards the liminal fringes where this world meets what lies beyond, shrouded in shadow.
“adreamwithinadream” is both a delicate piece and one full of dark intent; it is lullaby-like and mesmerizing, and although it certainly has an uncomfortable quality, in its own way, it is truly beguiling and brilliantly beautiful too.
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