Blood At Ease - Blood At Ease (2026) Hi-Res

Blood At Ease is the folk rock project of singer-songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Bailey Miller, based in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Following 2023’s The Holes That House The Seeds EP, the band arrives with a self-titled full-length album—the kind of release that you might put aside too quickly if you have it playing as background sound, but rewards you if you listen attentively.

From the nine protracted, narrative-rich songs emerges the image of an artist who is restless, searching, and fiercely self-aware. The lyrics return again and again to themes of transformation, labor, travel, and identity—how a person is shaped by the places they pass through, the systems they work within, and the expectations they internalize (one of my favorite lines here: “You buy the matches but fear they’ll burn // You house the knowledge but refuse to learn”—from Hard To Focus). By the time the closing title track unfolds, almost 17 minutes long, the record reveals its core tension: the desire to escape confinement, while still yearning to belong, to be seen, and to rest, even briefly, under someone else’s steady gaze.

Just as poetic as the wordplay, the music drifts through near-jazzy structures and a wealthy instrumental range (including sax and strings), to give real weight to the idea of ​​change.