A spinoff project by Red Sparowes members Dave Clifford, Greg Burns, and Emma Ruth Rundle, Marriages forge a sound both ferocious and caressing on their debut, Kitsune. Anyone familiar with the trio’s background might anticipate an intelligent, nuanced blend of searing metal motifs and brooding atmospherics. Kitsune fulfills these expectations, then exceeds them by tempering any tendency to sprawl with coherent song structures and a sense of dynamics. Rundle adds a distinctive touch as her yearning vocals contrast with her piercing guitar leads and darkly droning slide work. The effect is mesmerizing on tracks like “Ten Tiny Fingers” (a billowing piece that shifts between the harsh and the ethereal) and “Ride in My Place” (a psychedelia-tinged number wrapped in thick skeins of shimmering sound). “Part the Dark Again” suggests a David Lynch soundtrack with its insinuating touch, while “White Shape” captures the trio at their most relentlessly brutal. Toshi Kasai’s production and mixing gives Kitsune’s sound a crisp definition that saves the dense textures from blurring into murkiness.