On a cold, eerie Friday night in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Emma Ruth Rundle visited the Masonic Lodge and delivered an otherworldly experience, playing her album Engine of Hell in its entirety. Very few musicians have the it-factor to control a quiet acoustic room, but Emma’s hauntingly beautiful vocals captivated the audience from the second she stepped on stage. She interwove ethereality with emotional vulnerability and effortlessly alternated between the piano and the guitar. Every note and lyric felt like a spell, as awe and wonder permeated the lodge, a real “you just had to be there” kind of night.
Photos and words by Enoch Chuang for Staged Haze