Brooklyn-based solo project Blood Estate has entered a new album cycle with the release of Scream, a track that marks both a continuation and a shift. Known for soft, intricate, melancholic shoegaze and ambient-leaning atmospheres, the artist has spent the past five years carving out a reputation in the DIY and experimental scene.
The new single blends acoustic grit with ambient textures—starting with reverb-drenched guitar and analog string swells, then gently folding in soft drums and ethereal vocals. The result is a brief but immersive track that “splinters beautifully into little pieces,” equal parts haze and clarity.
The brighter tone of Scream, however, masks its deeper content. “Scream’s brighter atmosphere is only the backdrop for commentary on mental turmoil,” shares Blood Estate.
The cover art is a painting done during a period of personal crisis, and the contrast between the light, melodic surface and the more unsettling underlying message is deliberate: “the simple beauty of the song is supposed to juxtapose the Kafkaesque meaning of the song.”
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Blood Estate began in 2019, drawing from the lofi atmospherics of bands like The Velvet Underground and The Cure, alongside the influence of psychic automatism—a surrealist painting practice. From those roots, the artist began a process of layering in elements of slowcore, shoegaze, and ambient music.
Each release has pushed further into different corners of this spectrum. Floodgate (2022) combined ethereal slowcore with ambient shoegaze; Big City Bright Lights, a collaborative project with argo nuff, leaned into hypnagogic pop and ambient textures. Virtue, released at the start of 2023, was a more focused slowcore effort and produced the project’s most successful track to date, Imposter Syndrome.
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Since then, there’s been another shift—away from slowcore and shoegaze toward increasingly experimental and ambient material. But the new project aims to bring all these phases together. “I am now working on a new project which will incorporate better songwriting and more eccentricities, while developing on all the atmospheres I have done in the past.”
The recent singles are key examples: Do or Dare is described as “melancholic and fierce and dramatic,” while Scream offers a hazier, more upbeat experience—each song revealing a different side of the project’s current direction.
“I try to only write music through experimentation,” Blood Estate explains. A strong DIY ethos underpins every release and creative choice. There’s an awareness, too, of how the scene is shifting—slowcore and shoegaze are becoming more popular—but the artist remains committed to authenticity. “It has been weird to navigate slowcore and shoegaze both becoming more popular but I am confident that I can maintain my authenticity and continue to innovate through my music.”
That intention extends beyond just the songs themselves. The upcoming album will be part of a multimedia project, with work progressing carefully and deliberately. “These two songs are meant to serve as a taste of what is to come while I work on rolling out the rest of the project. It will be a multimedia project as well, so it just will take some time for everything.”
When it comes to inspiration, Blood Estate cites They Are Gutting A Body Of Water as a standout in the current shoegaze resurgence—particularly for their experimental approach and community-oriented ethos.
Katie Jane Garside’s work across her various projects (Lalleshwari, Liar Flower) is also mentioned, as is Porchkiss, a name making moves across lofi, slowcore, and ambient music.
There’s a sense that Blood Estate sees their own work not just as personal expression, but as part of a broader ecosystem.
“Personally I am very interested in uplifting the scene,” they note. As this new chapter unfolds, that motivation—alongside the commitment to experimentation and atmosphere—seems likely to shape whatever comes next.
