Brume’s songs are solid reminders that goth and doom aren’t always so far apart. Much of the San Francisco three-piece’s music is adorned with the dressings of the former genre — piano, melancholy violins, and frontwoman Susie McMullan’s haunting vocals throughout. But all of this is framed by the down-paced footfalls and groaning sweeps of the latter, making their sound feel more organic than goth’s more synthetic undertones. The result is sacramental, a spiritual breed of downer rock where vaulted emotion meets hands-on execution.
The band’s latest, Rabbits, hoists this torch high; it’s a funeral doom album that goes especially old-school on the funeral part. The overall vibe of this record makes one think of hardwood floors, failing crops, kneaded old hands. McMullan’s lilting vocal melodies are folkish but grim; as though they might’ve been sung a hundred years ago by a strange village elder. Drummer Jordan Perkins-Lewis keeps a slow yet thunderous beat, with every snare and bass hit counting as it echoes through the record’s dusty, abandoned chamber. From the shimmering gospel of Despondence to the dirt-black ballad of Autocrat’s Fool, Brume have made an album that’s difficult to turn off or away from.
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“Brume’s music is a time-stamped truth,” says the band of their latest offering. “Rabbits reflects how we processed a pretty tough year of tragedy and deception.”
Listen to our exclusive stream of Brume’s Rabbit’s below:
Brume’s Rabbits is out tomorrow, November 22, on Magnetic Eye Records, and is available for preorder.
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Posted on November 21st 2019, 4:00pm