Cross Record

Emily Cross channels her songwriting and visual artistry through the project known as Cross Record, producing compositions that blend delicacy with a sense of doom. Her body of work, such as the full-length release Wabi Sabi from 2016, typically employs sparse but innovative sonic elements like manipulated tapes, woodwind instruments, guitars, and her ethereal singing voice, though these can occasionally intensify into chaotic layers of warped percussion and dense brass sections. Even when her musical structures lean toward abstraction, the words remain straightforward, resulting in tracks that cast a spell ranging from subtle to powerful.

Originally from the Midwest and brought up in Florida, Cross started putting out her own music as Cross Record in the first half of the 2010s during her time at Chicago's Art Institute, from which she received her degree in 2011. There she encountered Dan Duszynski, a musician and engineer associated with Gold Motel and Any Kind, who handled recording duties and added to her first album Be Good. This debut appeared initially as a restricted-edition vinyl on Lay Flat during 2012 before Ba Da Bing offered a broader distribution the next year. The year 2013 saw Cross and Duszynski wed and move to Texas, where they established themselves on a ranch in Dripping Springs. While Cross took on everyday employment and pursued painting, Duszynski captured recordings from local Austin groups in their domestic facility. Between 2014 and 2015, they dedicated considerable effort to creating Cross Record's follow-up LP, which featured drumming from Thor Harris of Swans and shared production input from Theo Karon, already involved in Be Good. Drawing its name from the Japanese concept emphasizing flaw and transience, Wabi Sabi came out via Ba Da Bing at the start of 2016. Post-release, Cross withdrew to a solitary existence in Mexico and commenced work on subsequent material. Completed in Los Angeles alongside Andrew Hulett on music and Karon producing, the richly detailed and synth-oriented self-titled Cross Record emerged in 2019.