“ Blood / Lines ” is a collection of gorgeously dark song vignettes built on a foundation of reverbed emotion, rhythmic drive, and minor-key pop sensibility.
The album features less of the folk / rock minimalism that shaped Emily’s previous works. She layers synthesizer, electric guitar and multiple tracks of ethereal vocals into nine heavily affected scenes. With the help of friends and collaborators Wainwright Hewlett, Shawn Alpay, Marissa Nadler, Nick Ott, and Darwin Meiners, her songs diversify with strings, backing vocals, bass, and heavy drums. Blood / Lines reveals loyalty to classic gothic motifs by moving through passion, anger, melancholy, destruction, isolation, romance, and abandonment.