The Nocturnes are the folkgaze brainchild of guitarist/vocalist Emma Ruth Rundle. While the band began as a duo in 2007 and built a cult following prior to her joining Red Sparowes in 2009,Aokigahara is nonetheless a dramatic rebirth for The Nocturnes. Featuring a revamped quartet lineup, the 8-song album ventures into multiple textures of style and sound that create a lush haze of melody that blends hints of folk, shoegaze, chamber pop, goth and post-rock.
Rundle is joined on this recording by guitarist/vocalist Julian Rifkin, multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Paris Patt and drummer Dave Clifford (also of Red Sparowes). Aokigahara was written collectively, combining the different styles and personalities of the players. Some of the songs were built from Rundle’s unrecorded older songs, others were written by Rifkin (“Craving”, “Hello Neighbor”) and others penned as a group (“Aokigahara”, “The Road”). The album takes a more ethereal approach — leaving behind the more direct vocal and rock-leaning song structures of the band’s earlier releases — for a new sound awash with reverb, drifting voices and harmonies, atmospheric guitars,Twin Peaks-esque bass lines and orchestral style drumming.
As a duo featuring Rundle and drummer Daniel Yasmin, The Nocturnes released their debutWellington EP in January 2008 while based in New Zealand. Upon returning to Los Angeles, the duo issued the full length A Year of Spring the following year. In this time, Rundle formed a close musical connection with Patt, who contributed bass guitar to the debut album. The Live on KXLUEP released in 2010 shows hints of what was to come, as Rundle was joined by Rifkin for the drum-less session when Yasmin was unable to play. He left the band shortly thereafter, relocating to the Bay Area.
In 2010 the newly solidified quartet recorded a set of songs in Venice, CA in what was once a studio space used by the Beach Boys. In a way, you can almost hear the famous Wilson clan’s melancholic harmonies and saturated Wall of Sound within the somber, pliant and thoroughly soaring songs of Aokigahara. The group of native Angelinos take to the road following the album’s release in late August on LP, CD and Digital Download.