Cross Record - the project of UK based singer-songwriter Emily Cross - announces her new album, Crush Me, which is out March 21 on Ba Da Bing Records.

Cross has also released the leading single for the record, "Charred Grass."

Check out the music video for the new single below:

Cross sings in a hushed tone over hazy instrumentation in a way that suggests things might not be okay. The video visualizes this; as she walks delicately through the woods, impediments continually break her stride.

Cross elaborates on the song's meaning:

"The track is about moments that stick with me, and help me feel real— essentially, times in which time itself ceases to exist.” Cross elaborates: “I drive past a lot of fields, and one morning I saw a big fire. The next day there was a baby calf laying on the bit of charred grass close to its mom, who was making eye contact with me as I drove by. Sometimes the car scares the cows but this one seemed to convey only peace and calm.”

This is the first record Cross has released as a solo artist since her self titled 2019 LP. Crush Me is an album that is steeped in the pressures and wonders of existence—a profound statement, especially coming from artist and death doula Emily Cross. The album explores personal challenges, disappointments and joys, and explores how we handle the weights we carry.

Cross began writing Crush Me fresh off a tour with Loma, her band with Jonathan Meiburg (Shearwater) and Dan Duszynski. She was five years into serving clients as a death doula, holding hundreds of Living Funerals, a process during which Cross guides participants through the rituals of their own deaths. After moving from Austin, TX to Dorset, UK, she established the Steady Waves Center for Contemplation, where she hosted Living Funerals, met clients, scheduled mindful tea sessions, and showcased experimental music nights. All the while, she was scribbling down song ideas.

Cross worked for months on the album, all the while nursing a pregnancy and continuing her full-time funeral work. The last minute participation of Seth Manchester of Machines with Magnets, who mixed and mastered, was an essential liferaft. He gave true final form to the abstracted songs.

Crush Me Tracklist:

1. I Can Lie
2. Rolling Backwards
3. Charred Grass
4. Right Thing By Me
5. Dorset Area Of Natural Beauty
6. Cutting A Cake
7. Led Through Life
8. God Fax
9. Pearl Through The Funnel
10. Designed In Hell
11. Crush Me
12. Twisted Up Fence