Both UK artist Rue Delaney and her label-mate Fauness have hypnotic voices that feel half-elfin – sorta like what Liv Tyler would have sounded like if she sang her lines in Lord of the Rings.
Not only is Rue’s new single musically charming, but the lyrics are first-rate, too:
Wipe the tears across my skin
Close the door and lock me in
Softly to the grave
This bed that we both made
“In Your Eyes, I Die” is the first single off Delaney’s new EP Hello Dark World. That release also features “That Girl” – a marvelous song that sounds like it could have been a hit for Marianne Faithfull when her voice was still crystalline.
This talented Londoner has a very bright future indeed.
What circumstances led you to write “In Your Eyes, I Die”?
I was about 6 months into a break up and processing how toxic the relationship really was. So for me, this song is about admitting defeat and accepting that a relationship is over despite still loving that person and drawing on the only hope that remains – transcending time and space and finding that person in a parallel universe or another life where maybe it would all be very different and the ‘if onlys’ and ‘what ifs’ were the reality.
You play guitar on “In Your Eyes, I Die.” Is that your main instrument?
Yes! Guitar is my main instrument. I am mostly self-taught on the guitar. I started out when I was 12 playing my favorite songs or whatever guitar tab books I could find in my older brother’s room. The Offspring or something of the like hahah. I also play piano too, though I had lessons for that. I got to grade 4 and realized I hated grades, so improvised from there on.
How did you meet producer and co-writer Josef Page?
I met Josef for the first time when I was 19. I was brand-new to doing sessions and had just starting working with my first management company. We’d done a day together and then I didn’t see him for another 3 years! Until we bumped into each other and I reached out for another session. And in that session we wrote the first single off the EP Butterfly. Josef has been great through this whole process. I wouldn’t know what I’d do without him.
You have such a lovely, distinctive voice. Who were some of your favorite singers growing up?
Thank you! One of my favorites was Kate Bush. My mum loved her so Hounds of Love was constantly playing in the house. “Running Up That Hill” is a great track as everybody knows now! I started to watch some documentaries about her and how she’d made the album, and her live show performances from the ’80s on YouTube. Lana Del Rey was also quite pivotal in my teenage years. I loved her artistry and the darkness that surrounded it. That inspired me the most for how I wanted to be as an artist and how important having an artistry is. She was always on repeat on my Sony Walkman MP3 player on the bus to school.
