“The Nocturnes is a band led by Red Sparowes guitarist Emma Ruth Rundle, and they have made a beautiful video and single called “The Road”, as a preview of their forthcoming second album, Aokigahara. The new album is said to blend hints of folk, shoegaze, chamber pop, goth and post-rock, which sounds pretty interesting to me. You can download the single for free at Bandcamp, including two beautiful remixes of the track.”
- http://eardrumsmusic.com/
“Los Angeles-based alternative band The Nocturnes are one of those bands that seem to know what the correct formula is to effortlessly stick with you for quite some time. It might have something to do with their ability to paint a portrait or landscape with clever, roundabout lyrics sung hauntingly against a backdrop of rolling percussion and punctuating strings. Their track “Paper Hands” is just one example of this, using visuals such as ashes, cold waves, a grave, and the fragility of said paper hands. Now imagine multiple songs of this emotional caliber – there’s no avoiding its creeping under your skin to settle and become part of you for a while. At least that’s what we’ve come to enjoy about this highly ambitious band. Easily drawn to and hard to escape (not that we’d care to by any means), The Nocturnes has earned a rightful place in our BeatCrave Fav series. If in the mood to be entranced, we invite you to check them out …”
“I have got nothing at home but ghosts and bones.”
Those words appear at the end of The Nocturnes music video for “The Road”, the first single from the upcoming Aokigahara. After you watch it, that sentence will sum up the feature as a whole. Using a variety of landscapes as kaleidoscopic images, the piece was directed by none other than guitarist Emma Ruth Rundle. It starts with two hooded figures gradually appearing in a dark forest. These ghosts sing out spacey melodies as they reappear in a church-like environment. The change in scenery, outfits, and people move the mood from foreboding to heavenly to mysterious. One thing that’s consistent is the sense of calm and peace throughout every minute.”
-Consequence of Sound
“Given how many musical oddities I encounter in a given week, I do my best to never carelessly throw around harmful adjectives such as “strange” or “foreign,” yet I can’t help but think that those labels fit quite nicely for The Nocturnes’ music video for their new single, “The Road.” If you’re unfamiliar with the shoegaze-infused folk group then it might be helpful to know that lead singer Emma Rundle and drummer Dave Clifford are also members of the -post-rock band Red Sparowes. The Nocturnes’ second album, Aokigahara, is being released on August 30th. “
-Kyle Minton (http://nothingsoundsbetter.com/)
“In 2007, we obtained a copy of The Nocturnes’ beautiful “Wellington” EP, which coincidentally was recorded in New Zealand (Carla Werner’s motherland). This led to the acquisition of their recently released debut record A Year of Spring, one of our favorite albums of 2008. The depth of their songwriting and the evocativeness of Emma Ruth Rundle’s vocals can quite fairly be filed into the top-level categories of PJ Harvey, Blonde Redhead, and Dead Can Dance. “Paper Hands,” “The Sea Will Keep You Save,” and “The Color” are absolute knee-bucklers…”
-LA UNDERGROUND
“The Nocturnes are quick to demolish ideas of Chopin and wistful pianos—by the end of the first song “I Love the Lighthouse Keeper,” 1970s prog rock is clearly a better fit than the 19th century. Non-standard time signatures and abrupt shifts and some unexpected use of synthesizers are all constants on this album, but their aesthetic extends beyond that genre, too…” -LA RECORD
“The lasting aspect of their music is that very few bands are able to emote darkly, but to do it without being reliant on a textural heaviness or a nimble presentation…”- LA 2DAY
