Rocket Recordings is poised to unleash a potent new force on the music scene with the self-titled debut from Rún, arriving on August 22nd. This formidable new Irish trio — Tara Baoth Mooney, Diarmuid MacDiarmada, and Rian Trench — promises a journey into the deepest recesses of sound and emotion, as hinted by their name, the Irish word for secret, mystery, or love.
As a tantalising prelude, Rún offers “Terror Moon,” the album’s undeniable centrepiece, the video for which premieres below. This track is a sonic tempest, with thunderous percussion providing a relentless backdrop to Tara Baoth Mooney’s potent chants and mantric ululations. A ferocious tumult of layered noise and fevered invective builds to an almost unbearable intensity. The band reveals the song’s genesis:
“We think of the energy of Terror Moon as a volatile space, barely containing the huge spilling emotion that rises in response to the ongoing genocide in Palestine. The song emerged initially as a response to Ghassan Kanafani’s ‘The land of Sad Oranges’. Every time we perform it live it gathers another layer of meaning. Grief, rage, sorrow over the murder of children—it’s too much for language to express. So we have to trust music to carry what words on their own can’t, to move straight to the heart, bypassing the head.
“Music can be a spectacle, a demonstration of prowess, a cultural object for consumption or it can be a ritual coming together for solidarity and uplift. We lean heavily into the latter and in ‘Terror Moon’ we feel the rupture in humanity and inhabit the horror together for a moment. There is deep reciprocity in that exchange.
“Through our live performances, through repetition and intensity we access a state somewhere between trance and testimony and we lean hard into that, and welcome people to step in with us in some kind of kinship and solidarity.”
We were heaped up there, withdrawn from our childhood, away from the land of oranges…oranges that died, an old farmer once told us, if watered by strange hands.
from Ghassan Kanafani’s ‘The land of Sad Oranges’
This profound statement sets the tone for an album that tackles weighty themes with unflinching honesty.
The combined might of these three artists is truly exceptional. Tara Baoth Mooney, known for her work with Jim Henson and her diverse musical background, brings a unique vocal presence. Diarmuid MacDiarmada, a long-time collaborator with Nurse With Wound and brother to Lankum’s Cormac, infuses the project with decades of avant-garde exploration. Rounding out the trio is Rian Trench, a prolific sound designer and engineer who has worked with acts like Solar Bears and whose studio, The Meadow, served as the crucible for this debut.
Rún’s debut carries the heft of an “extraordinary collective catharsis.” Drawing inspiration from dreams, synchronicities, and a vast array of influences spanning from William Basinski to Coil, the band describes their creative process as a “wonky witches’ kitchen” where seemingly disparate elements are “ground up and baked in with everything else.” The result is a ritualistic and elemental sonic experience, a record that dares to stare darkness in the face while possessing the power to cleanse the spirit. As Ursula Le Guin once observed, “In so far as one denies what is, one is possessed by what is not.” Rún provides a compelling soundtrack for embracing reality and confronting the void in our increasingly complex world.
Rún play Supersonic Festival in August.
Supersonic Festival, Birmingham, UK
29 – 31 August 2025
Tickets: https://supersonicfestival.com/supersonic-2024/
Pre-Order the album Rún via Bandcamp: https://run-ireland.bandcamp.com/album/r-n
Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/run_band_insta/