US / THEM: The Nocturnes (feat. Emma Rundle of Red Sparowes) premiere MP3 via RCRD LBL, launch West Coast tour dates

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The Nocturnes -- the band led by Red Sparowes guitarist Emma Ruth Rundle -- premiere a new song today from their forthcoming second album, Aokigahara. RCRD LBL hosts the MP3 for the track, "Love" which is available to stream/download HERE.

The band launches a short West Coast tour today, beginning with tonight's show in L.A. at Pehrspace. Please see all dates below. The entire album is available beginning today for streaming and download via The Nocturnes' Bandcamp page.

Consequence of Sound recently debuted the video for the song "The Road", an icy, trippy look at some kind of secret society ritual. Watch it HERE.

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 debut Wellington 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 KXLU EP 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 album is available August 30th on LP, CD and Download.

THE NOCTURNES LIVE:

08/26 Los Angeles, CA @ Pehrspace

08/27 San Diego, CA @ Tincan Alehouse
08/28 Oakland, CA @ Merchant's Saloon

08/29 San Francisco, CA @ TBA

09/01 Portland, OR @ Saratoga

09/03 Seattle, WA @ Highline

09/30 Los Angeles, CA @ The Central (LA Record + LA Underground present)