Rún’s second single is here, and with it, any lingering sense of mystery around their potential (which was quite literally nil, to be fair) dissolves into something far more powerful. Out now via Rocket Recordings, ‘Strike It’ is a possessed, slow-burning marvel: sludge bass, sky-splitting force and Tara Baoth Mooney’s incantatory vocals summoning something ancient, unholy and vital. Clocking in at under five minutes, it’s a masterclass in widescreen tension and release, capturing a band in full psychic bloom.
The single lands two months after the seismic arrival of ‘Terror Moon’ and ahead of their performance at the always unmissable Supersonic Festival in Birmingham this August. It also signals the imminent arrival of one of the most anticipated Irish debuts in years. Out 22nd August, Rún’s self-titled LP brings together three of the island’s most respected musical minds: Mooney, Diarmuid MacDiarmada (Nurse With Wound and brother of Lankum’s Cormac MacDiarmada), and Rian Trench – a true polymath of Irish underground sound in world-beating guises and projects including, but not limited to, Crispy Jason, PANIKATAX and Solar Bears.
Together, they’ve crafted something as emotionally weighty as it is sonically expansive. Rún’s music lives in ritual, in rupture, in that rare space where folk, drone, heavy groove and improvisation are fused not by aesthetic but by deep intention. This is music that doesn’t so much play as channel, informed by theology, sound design and collaborative visioning.
The album was recorded at Trench’s own Meadow studio, on the east coast of Ireland. A fertile zone of experimentation that’s housed countless projects over the years, here his orchestral instincts and production expertise met Mooney’s textural voicework and MacDiarmada’s deep avant-folk roots. It’s an extraordinary combination, long in the making: Rún first gathered for a session in 2021, performed their first show in a castle in Manorhamilton and finished the record in March 2024.
Signed to Rocket earlier this year – a label that continues to define and elevate the outer reaches of sound – Rún are now fully in flight. ‘Strike It’ is proof.
Watch the supremely disorienting, DIY visuals below — and check out their full run of Irish and UK dates below.
Pre-order Rún here.
