Multi-instrumentalist and many-times credited studio musician (Dum Dum Girls, Boredoms, Raveonettes) Sandra Vu spent years exploring the psych rock scene in Los Angeles. Now as the front-woman of SISU, she seeks to find the natural balance between the dark with the beautiful. Through deep introspection and sonic experimentation, Blood Tears is the cummulation of Vu’s insomnia-laden nights, where she learned to channel comfort through the means of explosive contrast.

Thematically dark, there is still a certain uplift and sense of light to SISU’s debut album. A distinct danceability and melodic hooks shows her knack for writing pop songs with unpop sounds. “I like to combine ‘loner sounds’—echo-ridden, cold, distorted synth sounds—with pop melodies,” Vu says. “They come from a melancholy place, but offer hope.” “Shotgun Running” is one of Blood Tears most dynamic pieces with Vu employing a mutant form of seduction: breathy vocals that cut through synth soundscapes and pierce through distortion leave a beguiling impression on the listener. Both aggressive and sublime, it’s quintessential SISU.

Blood Tears is about barreling into the fire of human tendencies—the dichotomies and struggles between desire and disgust, hope and doubt. To be human is to feel pain, and Vu attempts to find a cathartic rhythm that not only confronts these fears, but also soothes the lonely heart.