In November, runo plum will release her debut LP on Winspear (Wishy, Slow Pulp, Teethe). Entitled patching, the album was produced with her new Winspear labelmate Lutalo, and was announced in late August with the single “sickness,” which arrived with a Rolling Stone featureand saw praise from outlets like Stereogum, Line of Best Fit and BrooklynVegan.
Today, runo is sharing another preview of her new album, a track called “Halfway Up The Lawn,” with a video shot by David Milan Kelly.
Unbridled sincerity isn’t anything new for runo plum, who’s been writing and quietly sharing bedroom dispatches of her intricate folk for a half-decade. During the pandemic years, she steadily caught the ears of a widening circle of listeners and soon began independently releasing a series of singles and EPs, all while cutting her teeth on the live side supporting Searows, Angel Olsen and Hovvdy.
In the midst of this wave of success came an unexpected heartbreak. It wasn’t until runo had written a mass of songs in a five-month burst of intense creativity following that chasm that she realized that not one, but two, records were forming. “I was writing like I never had before and everything felt more meaningful than ever,” she says.
On patching, the work of metamorphosis plays as large of a role as the studied process of mending and repair. Across its twelve tracks, runo paints her melodic arcs with a sharp sense of dynamics, crafting songs that capture both the hazy highs and the dark blue lows of all the natural cycles that make the world turn. At the heart of her writing lies a sort of ephemeral magic, one born from her ability to alchemize a deeply formative chapter of life into a vivid scrapbook of songs, capturing the contours of her experiences in shimmering detail.
“Halfway Up The Lawn” recounts the messy and deeply human desperation phase of a breakup, unraveling all of the yearning and mental hang-ups over persistent, near-hypnotic instrumentation. “I don’t wanna watch you turn green, but I will” she sings, toying with acceptance, but not entirely giving up the fight.
“This song is about when you get broken up with and you aren’t on speaking terms with that person anymore. It makes you feel so insane, you want to scream, you’re checking socials, waiting for a text, desperately waiting for literally any sign of life. I imagine myself pathetically sitting outside of their house waiting for them to get home, but–nothing. The line “I don’t wanna watch you turn green, but I will” is ultimately about accepting that they have moved on. We ended up using my demo guitar solo for this one, which is so funny because it’s sort of a mess but it ended up fitting perfectly with the chaos in the theme.”
In support of the record runo will be embarking on a UK/EU tour that includes appearances at Pitchfork London and Paris. Full details of those dates can be found below.
11/1 – Amsterdam, NL @ London Calling Festival
11/2 – Berlin, DE @ Neue Zukuft
11/3 – Hamburg, DE @ Aalhaus
11/5 – Ghent, BE @ Big Next (Trefpunt)
11/6 – Luxembourg, LU @ Rotondes
11/7 – Paris, FR @ Pitchfork Paris
11/8 – London, UK @ Pitchfork London
11/10 – Bristol, UK @ Thekla
11/11 – London, UK @ Moth Club
11/12 – Brighton, UK @ Dust
11/14 – Sheffield, UK @ Hallamshire Hotel
11/15 – Leeds, UK @ Live at Leeds
Keep your mind open.
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[Thanks to Tom at Terrorbird Media.]