North London’s rising star Ruthlss pours her heart out on new track Fallen.
2024 was an eventful year (no pun intended) for London’s electronic music scene. The well-loved institution that is Fabric had a year-long celebration for its 25th trip around the sun, Saoirse’s beloved queer gathering Body Movements found its new home in Southwark Park, and Percolate introduced a brand-new festival to its already gargantuan presence in the city’s events space.
While all these seemingly unrelated parties brought some much-needed energy to the otherwise depressing situation regarding events in the UK, those with keener eyes may have noticed a connection between them – that connection was local artist Ruth Edmonson (aka Ruthlss).
Hailing from North London, Ruthlss has been cutting her teeth into the electronic music scene since her time at university in Leeds. The first electronic fingerprint of her work hit the internet in 2020 in the form of a hard-hitting techno mix for Grahame Farmer’s long-running platform Data Transmission. Since then, Ruthlss has meandered her way through London’s underground club circuit, becoming a prominent fixture in the city’s queer scene.
In the last five years, in addition to playing the aforementioned parties, she has popped up in well-established venues such as Phonox, RSO.Berlin, and The Cause. She has also positioned herself on Bicep’s premier mix series and the legendary London station Rinse FM, where she has a regular slot.
Classically trained in Piano and already established as a video game and film scorer, Ruthlss decided to end the year with her new self-released techno track; Fallen. Fallen is a beautiful fusion of her classical and electronic backgrounds, with an emotional chord progression as the backdrop, the track also utilises her vocal talents in an endearing and captivating way.
In her interview with //SNCMAG, Ruth shares her past, the painful inspiration behind Fallen, and her love for London’s queer scene.
Let’s start from the beginning. How did your relationship with music begin?
I grew up in a musical household in North London, a middle child of six kids, and we all picked up instruments from an early age. I was classically trained on the piano from the age of 4, and started writing short compositions when I was 8, my first audience being my parents after they’d had dinner. Throughout childhood I played music with my siblings, sang in choirs, played in a string quartet and orchestra, learnt music theory and sometimes played the organ at church, though my main obsession was always the piano. It was quite a hectic and pressured environment at times but I’m so grateful for it now looking back.
What type of sounds and artists were you exposed to at that time?
As a child I listened to a lot of solo classical piano music (Chopin, Debussy, Satie) and film scores (Ennio Morricone, Ryuichi Sakamoto, John Williams – I dreamt of writing music for films one day) but equally loved alt pop and industrial rock, influenced by my older siblings and parents, getting into bands like Massive Attack, Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails in my teens which inspired me to start playing synths, electric guitar and bass guitar. I was also a huge Kate Bush fan and loved a lot of synth and art pop, anything with powerful female vocals and rich layered harmonies. I thought it would be cool to be a music producer someday as well as a composer and decided to study Music Production for A Level when I was 16 which was the real turning point for me. I became obsessed with making music on Logic from then on.
I read that university was where you began to immerse yourself in electronic music culture. As a classically trained musician, what part of it was attractive to you?
I think rave culture fascinated me ever since I became immersed in it because it was such a contrast to my classical upbringing. I went to my first ever rave at SubDub in Leeds when studying there and remember at the time having no idea I was entering an established rave venue and not just an average student night. The music blew my mind. I was only in Leeds for a year and a half then dropped out to pursue music back in London, but a lot of what I heard in clubs and at house parties while I was living there (techno, bass, dub, trance) influenced me and opened up my world to new sounds. I didn’t DJ or make club music yet but was hooked on the records and on club culture by the time I left.
When did you decide it was time to get more involved?
While playing synths and guitars in indie bands in London post uni I decided to learn to DJ and immediately fell in love with it, then started to produce my own electronic music too. Then after I’d been playing and writing / producing for other people’s artist projects for a long time, I realised that what I really wanted to do was release my own music as a solo artist in both the electronic and classical spaces.
Who were some of the artists inspiring you at that time and what spaces were you frequenting?
At that time I was into everything Warp, Hyperdub, XL and Brainfeeder put out, was listening to a lot of Aphex Twin, Jon Hopkins and The Prodigy while simultaneously being inspired by Bjork, The Knife and FKA Twigs and later a lot of what PC Music were doing, and still listening to a lot of classical music. In terms of DJs it was Objekt, Helena Hauff and Batu who inspired me early on, leading me to delve deeper into techno, trance, bass and seek out bootleg edits and rare club remixes. I was going to raves at Corsica Studios, Fabric and also The Cause when it was still up in Tottenham, while gradually honing my skills as a DJ and producer.
You are becoming a regular fixture in the underground and queer scenes in London. What effect has the city had on you?
I love London so much that the feeling overwhelms me sometimes. The fact that any given weekend I could go to a well curated underground rave, watch an experimental electronic live act or art show or go to a classical concert on the Southbank is still awesome to me. London is chaos but I think I thrive in chaos somehow, maybe it’s my ADHD (I was only recently diagnosed so it’s on my mind a lot) or maybe it just suits me because I’m a very restless person! I also find London a really beautiful place at the same time – the mix of cultures, stories and art everywhere here feels like what it’s all about and provides a constant source of creative inspiration, as well as communities I’m lucky to be part of through the queer scene and through making music.
Are there any parties or communities that you would like to shout out?
I’d love to shout out some of the communities that booked me quite early on and still run some of the best queer parties in London, namely Adonis, Femmme Fraiche at Dalston Superstore, and Body Movements. The Cause is still one of my favourite venues as well as FOLD, particularly the Unfold parties as I’ve made some friends for life there. Playbody is an exciting new collective and event series run by some very talented friends of mine and they’re doing groundbreaking things in music and art right now.
One of my favourite recent parties was Divided Love at Fabric curated by my good friend Daniel Avery which I played in November. I’m also a resident for Percolate and have just been given my own bi-monthly Rinse FM show on a Friday night which is an honour because I’ve been a fan of Rinse for years and they’re being really supportive of everything I’m doing.
Fallen was inspired by a tough experience that you had. Can you share more on that experience and how you translated those feelings into music?
I went through a particularly traumatic break up a few years ago that broke me at the time, and I had to pretty much start my life all over again. The relationship took all my energy and positivity away, and I kind of lost myself and all my confidence in the process. It was a very dark time but has helped shape who I am today and has made me stronger than I ever would have been otherwise, so I’m closer to being at peace with it now and that’s mostly what Fallen is about.
The track is an expression of reclaiming your power after a break up and, despite being alone, knowing that you have your life back – and being able to rely on yourself to make it as beautiful and fulfilling as possible. Just after that break up I started posting videos on Instagram of me improvising on the piano as well as short clips of me performing my electronic tracks. Initially I only really did it as a way of connecting to the outside world again as I felt so disconnected from everything and everyone, but it led me to meet a whole new variety of people, allowed me to start growing an audience online, and eventually changed my life entirely as it brought me opportunities in music that I had never imagined possible, including composing film scores, performing at the BAFTA Games Awards, signing to BMG Publishing as a producer and songwriter, and meeting my management team and label.
The chord sequence in Fallen is one I’d used a lot in the past when writing, and always conveys a sense of sadness and hope at the same time so I started with that. It’s a techno club ballad with 909 drums, layers of analog synths and a deep bassline but also ethereal vocals and strings weaved in, and the aim was to create a euphoric but simultaneously emotional club track to completely lose yourself in at a rave. One of the best feelings ever was playing it out at Fabric recently to a beautiful crowd. I think I realised fully in that moment just how far I’d come since a few years back.
How do you like to wind down when you’re not doing music?
Watching films and anime series, listening to podcasts on long walks around London – my favourite walking route currently is from my flat in East London down to London Bridge and then along the Southbank, and podcasts on rotation right now are Soundtracked by Edith Boman, Berlant & Novak by my two favourite comedians from LA, and Rick Rubin’s Tetragrammaton interviews. And I guess this is still music related but I use improvising on the piano (with no clear goal in mind, just continuous playing) as a form of meditation every day which helps me to wind down a lot and focuses my mind. I can’t seem to get into any other forms of meditation so I’m glad that one works!
What’s next for Ruthlss?
I’m really excited for 2025. I’ve only released two singles so far but there’ll be two more out early this year and my first electronic EP drops in March on AMF Records, with my EP launch party in London on the 7th March. My first solo piano record comes out in April followed by more electronic / synth-led releases, and I’m preparing my live electronic show which has been my dream to do for the longest time!
Some exciting collabs that were finished a while ago are finally being released into the world too, as well as some pop tunes I’ve co-written for other artists that will be really fun to see out there too. A film I scored called ‘I See Her’ will be released soon which is really exciting as it’s such a moving piece of cinema directed by the brilliant Sukki Menon. I’ll also be DJing a lot more than last year, and I’m looking forward to seeing more of the world!