Songwriter and guitarist Charlie Grant met Jule Escherhaus (known as Laina), at a songwriting session where their collaborative artistic chemistry came together and yielded their first track, 'Black Lines,' on that same day. Some things are just meant to be.

Charlie played the song for producer and songwriter Ainsley Adams who instantly loved it, and soon the three of them transformed a sparse acoustic demo into something cinematic and atmospheric. More Than Ruins was born that day, in a shared love of dreamy pop music, and they are currently working on new material for release in 2020. Starting with a simple 8th-note figure on the electric guitar and a sparse drum pocket, the instrumentation for Black Lines might remind you a little of The Paper Kites, while the warmth of Laina's gorgeous and emotive voice creates a perfect backdrop for the catharsis apparent in the lyrics. The message here is that art is built from both rapture and destruction: all we can do is move through the circumstances of our own life with a sense of purpose. 'Black Lines' is a promising debut from this German pop trio, and matches an elegant sense of introspection with the need for creative expression as a way of processing the world around us.

Appreciate the hurt
It’s the light in your darkest dreams
It’s better to break and come back stronger
Than to linger anymore

More Than Ruins is an indie-pop band from Berlin that formed in 2019. This song is featured on our Roots Collection playlist.

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