Weyes Blood Technological fatigue. Narcissism anxiety. A galaxy of isolation. These are the new norms keeping Weyes Blood (aka Natalie Mering) up at night and the themes at the heart of her latest release, And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow (Sub Pop Records). The album is her follow-up to the acclaimed Titanic Rising. (Pitchfork, NPR, The Guardian admiringly named it one of 2019’s best.) Where Titanic was an observation of doom to come, And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow is about being in the thick of it: a search for an escape hatch to liberate us from algorithms and ideological chaos. “We’re in a fully functional shit show,” Mering says. “My heart is a glow stick that’s been cracked, lighting up my chest in an explosion of earnestness.” And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow opens with the wistful, winsome “It's Not Just Me, It's Everybody” — about the interconnectivity of all beings, but also the fraying of society around us. “I was asking a lot of questions while writing these songs. Hyper isolation kept coming up,” Mering says. “Our culture relies less and less on people. Something is off, and even though the feeling appears differently for each individual, it is universal.” Other tracks follow in kind. The lullaby-like “Grapevine” chronicles the splintering of a human connection. The otherworldly dirge “God Turn Me into a Flower” serves as an allegory about our collective hubris. “The Worst Is Done” is an ominous warning, set against a deceivingly breezy pop melody. “Chaos is natural. But so is negentropy, or the tendency for things to fall into order,” she says. “These songs may not be manifestos or solutions, but I know they shed light on the meaning of our contemporary disillusionment.” Weyes Blood’s tracks When You're Smiling (From "A Small Light: Episode 5") by Weyes Blood published on 2023-05-11T18:24:11Z The Worst Is Done by Weyes Blood published on 2022-08-17T20:27:00Z A Given Thing by Weyes Blood published on 2022-08-17T20:26:39Z Hearts Aglow by Weyes Blood published on 2022-08-17T20:26:15Z Grapevine by Weyes Blood published on 2022-08-17T20:25:30Z It's Not Just Me, It's Everybody by Weyes Blood published on 2022-08-17T20:25:24Z God Turn Me Into a Flower by Weyes Blood published on 2022-08-17T20:25:19Z Children of the Empire by Weyes Blood published on 2022-08-17T20:25:04Z In Holy Flux by Weyes Blood published on 2022-08-17T20:24:43Z Twin Flame by Weyes Blood published on 2022-08-17T20:24:35Z
When You're Smiling (From "A Small Light: Episode 5") by Weyes Blood published on 2023-05-11T18:24:11Z