Consider this line as a teaser: “God’s got a picture of the whole world burning, down to the details of his hot white ash.” That opening line belongs to Emma Ruth Rundle’s forthcoming single “God’s Picture,” and it also embodies the concept at the heart of the track. Rundle excels at crafting stark, heavy mood music, and her upcoming album These Killing Times is due to drop in a couple of weeks. We’ve already heard the early tracks “Powerless” and “Enough.” “God’s Picture” continues the streak.
Rundle characterizes “God’s Picture” as the focal point of These Killing Times. It begins as a moody gothic torch song and gradually swells into something majestically crushing. Rundle directed her own video for the track, in which she adopts several mythic personas. In a press release, Rundle says:
“God’s Picture” is a meditation on the state of the world, particularly climate disaster, global conflict and class. Musically, this song feels like a segue from Engine Of Hell, with its gentle piano and guitar, to These Killing Times, with its more lush arrangements and message. This song is also a plea for the demolition of western hegemony. Accompanied by a music video collaboration with many friends and for which I painstakingly constructed the sets for in the winter of 2025/26, “God’s Picture” is the thesis statement at the core of my new album These Killing Times.
Emma Ruth Rundle handles guitar and keyboard on “God’s Picture,” with Patrick Shiroishi on sax, Troy Zeigler on bass, and Jess Gowrie, known for her work with Chelsea Wolfe, on drums. See it below.
These Killing Times is out 9/18 on Errant Child.
