It’s rare that a song instantly feels like it’s speaking to a quiet, hidden part of your heart, but Chris Rusin’s “Cinders,” the opening track from his just-released album “Songs From A Secret Room,” does that. Pre-released as a single, it already racked up over 70,000 Spotify listens, and it’s easily understandable. This is music that stays in the spaces between your thoughts, in the echoes of what’s been lost and what’s yet to be healed, but does not just fill the room.
Hailing from Colorado’s vibrant Front Range music scene, Chris Rusin is an authentic voice in the Americana landscape with a gift for turning complex emotional truths into accessible and profound songs. With “Cinders,” he continues that tradition, delivering an intimate and expansive song, a duet that captures the tender and tumultuous realities of love and heartache.
The track features a soulful collaboration with Katie Wise, and together their voices entwine in devastatingly beautiful harmonies that recall the emotional depth of The Civil Wars or Ocie Elliot. The lyrics resonate like quiet confessions: “Shattered hearts and faded colors. I just can’t look back anymore. Heartache becomes living. And I don’t want to be here anymore.”
These words are delivered with immediate vulnerability, as if Chris and Katie are singing directly to our experiences of love lost and paths not taken. Their performance is intimate and commanding as it perfectly strikes that delicate balance between folk intimacy and Americana grandeur.
Instrumentally, “Cinders” is subtly professional with a textured arrangement. Chris’s guitar work is precise and emotive, while the rootsy presence of dobro and banjo provides an organic warmth. Adding depth and resonance, John Paul Grigsby’s upright bass, Russick Smith’s cello, and Shane Zweygardt’s purposeful drumming create a lived-in and real soundscape. The production, handled by Grammy-nominated producer Andrew Berlin (Gregory Alan Isakov), is immaculate, and the mastering by Jason Livermore ensures a clarity that allows the song’s emotional weight to land fully.
Thematically, “Cinders” explores the aftermath of love and the ache of choices unmade. Lines like “Still, I turn to you. The path I did not take. We’ve been burned by the cinders. And I don’t want to be here anymore” speaks to the universal experience of regret, longing, and the human instinct to seek connection even after heartbreak. The song is a delicate balance of sorrow and beauty, a reflection on the ways we carry love’s remnants with us.
Chris Rusin is an artist who writes with honesty, performs with sincerity, and curates every sonic detail with care. On behalf of Songweb, we are thrilled to welcome him to our community. If Cinders is any indication, Chris Rusin is an artist whose music will linger, inspire, and comfort listeners. In short, Cinders is an invitation to feel deeply, reflect, and find solace in shared human experience. And in this collaboration with Katie Wise, Chris Rusin has crafted a gem that deserves to be heard, remembered, and cherished.
Listen to “Chris Rusin” on Spotify
Follow Chris Rusin here for more information
