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cross record – Crush Me (2025)
Review:
Befitting its title, Crush Me has a weight to it that feels overwhelming. Whether in her work as a death doula or as a musician, Emily Cross has never been averse to addressing challenging themes, but in her fourth album as Cross Record, her music sounds like it could buckle the will of even the most steadfast soul. There are hints at the album’s density and darkness in the song titles — such as “Charred Grass,” “Designed in Hell,” “Crush Me,” and “Twisted Up Fence” — and the slow, distortion-spiked music packs a real gut punch. Cross’s supple voice is as gorgeous as ever, but if you’re expecting the stately grandeur of her band Loma, you might get a shock at how heavy-going this record gets. At times, the experimental textures of the music are desolate and forbidding. After a promising opening run of songs, the floor falls out from below your feet. “Right Thing by Me” threads hesitant vocals across a sinister web of keyboard tones, and the uncomfortable intro to “Dorset Area of Natural Beauty” is basically maniacal laughter encroaching upon the stereo space. The album picks up momentum again with the magnificently doomy “Cutting A Cake,” before “God Fax” builds on a rhythm track of panicked breaths to crescendo into a cacophonous climax. Thankfully there are moments of respite amidst the gloom, such as the gentle piano of “Led Through Life,” which blooms delicately with the lyric “Golden light finds my mind.” Standout single “Charred Grass” has some lovely textural bowed bass from Devra Hoff, and a hopeful refrain of “I feel real.” During the stretches of the album when desperation is kept at bay, the music can be startlingly beautiful. At 52 minutes, the heaviness and slow pacing of Crush Me feels unforgiving, but it also comes across like a conscious artistic choice. Cross doesn’t hesitate to drag the listener through thorny, treacherous terrain, which will potentially appeal to fans of Low, Earth, and Chelsea Wolfe. — dusted
Track List:
01 - I Can Lie
02 - Rolling Backwards
03 - Charred Grass
04 - Right Thing By Me
05 - Dorset Area of Natural Beauty
06 - Cutting a Cake
07 - Led Through Life
08 - God Fax
09 - Pearl Through a Funnel
10 - Designed in Hell
11 - Crush Me
12 - Twisted Up Fence
Media Report:
Genre: dream-pop, lo-fi
Origin: England, UK 
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits
Compression mode: Lossless
Writing library: libFLAC 1.2.1 (UTC 2007-09-17)
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