Kris Delmhorst’s new release "Blood Test" describes a moment of reckoning and centering in the songwriter’s life, and in society as a whole. "Blood Test" is this Ark favorite's first album of original material since 2008’s "Shotgun Singer." The intervening years witnessed the birth of her daughter with husband and fellow songwriter Jeffrey Foucault, and an accompanying shift in perspective. Th new album is "not a record about becoming a parent by any stretch … only a few songs reference it even barely … but it’s an inescapable ingredient of where I’m writing from," says Kris. "Having a child affords a dramatically new view of yourself and your place—in your life, your family, with friends and surroundings. I don’t know how that perspective doesn’t inform any creative person’s work once they have it." The songs Kris has delivered from this new vantage point speak of a deepened empathy, a broader perspective on the continuum of lives, and its quietest moments cut deep.