As the head of Spacebomb Records and a critically lauded solo artist and producer, Matthew E. White is leading a mini-revolution, reintroducing the house-band model of Stax and Muscle Shoals into modern orchestral pop. Fresh Blood is the smokin' follow-up to his acclaimed debut. Strings, horns, and a full choir bring these impossibly lush recordings to life. The shuffling grooves of "Rock & Roll Is Cold" are based on a 12-bar blues, while the sumptuously arranged "Tranquility" is a meditation on the death of actor Philip Seymour Hoffman.