Kevin Bronson on March 11th, 2021

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Emma Danner makes dreamy, haunting indie-folk under the name Red Ribbon, having launched the project in Seattle before releasing her debut album “Dark Party” in 2018 and eventually matriculating to Los Angeles.

This week, she announced that her sophomore album, “Planet X,” would be out June 11 via L.A.’s Danger Collective Records. Except for one track, it was produced by Randall Dunn, whose credits range from Sun O))), Black Mountain and Cloud Nothings to Marissa Nadler, the Cave Singers and Rose Windows.

The swirling first single “Renegade” propels you into Danner’s world, where the fleeting nature of life, not to mention all its warts, find a voice behind her veneer of innocence. “Every little mortality check brings more meaning to life,” Danner says of the impetus for “Planet X.” “We all inevitably face our own unique pain. No one is removed from that. I ​use my music​ to cope​, and I make it as experiential as possible​ to remind myself that each performance or song is an opportunity to do something once without ever repeating it. So, I can understand my traumas in a similar way. Music turns my pain into a process. ​There is peace and healing to be found in the process.”

As for “Renegade,” it’s “about how you’re your own worst enemy and you can’t escape yourself, no matter how far you travel,” the songwriter says.

Ambar Navarro directs the video, explaining, “I wanted to create a story about someone running away from society or leaving a situation, only to keep being discovered and ending up having to fight off whatever it was they were originally hiding from. Emma and I both seem to be into a desert style — being from Texas, I’m always searching for my little home away from home desert spots in L.A. that look like Westerns.”

||| Watch: The video for “Renegade”