‘Pushing 70s Songwriting into the Present Day.’ – VICE ‘Ruthie is an artist about whom we should have plenty of hope for great things.’ – The 405 ‘Think the Carpenters go grunge-tinged dream-pop.’ – The Sunday Times ‘Hints of Tobias Jesso Jr. or McCartney-esque melodies.’ – Clash
Blessed with the ability to conjure challenging emotions into melodic and engaging pop, the hotly-tipped Ruthie shares her brand new single ‘The Tide’. It’s the first track to preview her debut EP Universal Heartbreak Now, out on Friday 22 November. It follows her three independently released singles ‘Land of My Lover’, ‘Spirit Now Moves’ and ‘What Kind of Woman’.
With ‘The Tide’, Ruthie expresses bittersweet feelings with a sweeping beauty that elevates the mood of the moment. Set to a dreamy backdrop of modern pop and country-tinged folk, it drives to a crescendo in which her multi-layered vocal harmonies surge to create a choral wall-of-sound. Ruthie’s style echoes the likes of Angel Olsen and Jenny Lewis back to Fleetwood Mac and Joni Mitchell, while her distinctively English accent adds a unique touch.
“‘The Tide’ is another banger about feeling terrible,” says Ruthie. “It’s about sitting in my room feeling lonely, like the sea had just spat me out onto a deserted beach. It’s definitely melodramatic and now I can’t remember ever feeling that way, but that’s the alchemy of songwriting: you can crystalise a feeling that becomes an object to look at rather than an overwhelming tidal wave. I also wanted to echo a very classic country music narrative of ‘Once I had everything, but now I’ve lost everything.’”
The four-track Universal Heartbreak Now EP represents the biggest statement of Ruthie’s career to date. Eoin Loveless of Drenge contributes haunting duet vocals and psychedelic flavoured guitar to ‘No One On This Earth’, while all four tracks were mixed by Chris Coady (Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Future Islands). The songs were all written with Ruthie’s creative collaborator Ben Lewis.
Ruthie’s timeless, lovelorn songwriting has enamoured a growing following. She’s gained wide-ranging airplay including Radio 1, Beats 1, 6 Music and BBC Introducing at home along with spins at triple j and Double j. Add Nylon, Wonderland & more to an ever-growing range of backers and it’s clear that Ruthie is on the way up.
