Blood

In winter of 2021, longtime Austin residents Blood made a fresh start, using a move into a house together in Philadelphia as a chance to reorient and spend time writing music around the clock. Their debut album, Loving You Backwards, is a document of the band completely immersed in their newfound home and dedicated to the craft of losing oneself in the artform. As a result, Loving You Backwards flourishes in the subtle, the ambiguous, the shades of gray. These songs somehow feel both intimate like Liz Harris’ Grouper feels intimate and totally vast in the way that a Talk Talk record feels vast. It’s in the same universe as Ought in its earlier iterations. They exist in the realm of ballads, heart-wrenching and weird pop with a post rock sensibility. It explores, as the title implies, approaching a relationship in the reverse, dealing with your past while you try to stay in the present.