Life Love Flesh Blood features soft rock and acoustic styles, differing significantly from the rockabilly genre of previous albums.

In a July 2015 interview with the Irish Independent, May confirmed that she had started working on the album, and that the release was slated for early 2016.

Burnett introduced May to a small studio band, which consisted himself and Marc Ribot on guitars, Dennis Crouch on bass, Jay Bellerose on drums, and Patrick Warren on keyboards.

May appeared on the 2016-17 edition of the New Year's Eve program Jools' Annual Hootenanny, where she performed the song "Black Tears".

Ben Beaumont-Thomas from The Guardian rated the album 3 out of 5 stars, and commented that "the songwriting is rock solid, and in an age of will-this-do toplines, her melodic touch should not be undervalued; take 6ixth Sense, which has a satisfying direction to its doo-wop tinged meandering".

Tony Clayton-Lea from The Irish Times praised May's career reinvention, saying that her "former music stylings have mostly been replaced with elegant, reflective readings from the soul/blues/jazz/pop songbook, and they fit her like a long satin glove".

[11][15][17] In a positive review, Rick Pearson from the Evening Standard praised the "bluesy" ballads on the album - "Call Me" and "Black Tears".

Lee Zimmerman of Paste lauded the eclectic genres on the album, saying that "it’s little wonder then that May’s come-hither desire becomes the central theme, with the music providing the appropriate cushion to buttress her intents.

It’s mostly twilight jazz, but varied enough to wander to an occasional tango ("I Choose Love"), Van Morrison-like balladry ("Call Me") or far more edgier intents ("Leave Me Lonely", "Game Changer")".

[14][19] Life Love Flesh Blood debuted at number two on the Irish Albums Chart on 14 April 2017, as published by the IRMA.