LIVE REVIEW + PHOTOS: Cross Record – Folk House, Bristol – 27/05/2025

Emily Cross made a rare appearance at the Bristol Folk House last night, joined by Andrew Hulett for a collaboration that felt both intimate and singular. From the event’s description, I expected reinterpretations of songs from Crush Me—the latest Cross Record offering, released just two months ago on Ba Da Bing Records—but what unfolded was something even more tenderly unorthodox.

I’ve followed Cross Record for a number of years, first witnessing Emily live with Loma in 2018—a fleeting tour before the world slipped into pause, and the two albums that followed were left unheard in the rooms they were meant to echo through. Though I wasn’t initially familiar with Andrew Hulett’s work, the connection quickly revealed its depth: he had a hand in shaping Cross Record’s 2019 self-titled album, both as a producer and a contributing musician.

This was the second stop on a fleeting micro-tour, drawing to a close beneath the warm glow of the Folk House café. The set, delicate and ephemeral, passed in a breath—five songs in total, four lifted from Crush Me: Dorset Area Of Natural Beauty, Charred Grass, Led Through Life, and Twisted Up Fence. The lone mystery was Pinecone, which I couldn’t place. Each piece had been gently unraveled and rethreaded for the stage—woven with twin woodwinds, swirling tape loops, subtle sound alchemy, Emily’s arresting voice, and the grounding hush of acoustic guitar. The room, small and hushed, held an audience so still, so reverent, that not a single breath dared interrupt the spell—until the last note dissolved, and applause bloomed like a quiet exhale.

Words and photos by Ross Peacey (Instagram)