Titanic Rising - Weyes Blood: Review

Weyes Blood

is the pseudonym of Natalie Mering who has been releasing baroque and chamber pop music under the name for almost a year now. After receiving more acclaim and popularity with each release Titanic Rising has a number of very well received singles leading up to its release and looks to be the most successful Weyes Blood project to date.

Review By Lav:

I can't say I've ever been a big fan of Weyes Blood up to this point, 2016's Front Row Seat To Earth was a step in the right direction but still an album that I found hard to remember even as I had just heard it. But given her switch to Sub Pop for the release of this album and a trilogy singles well received by her fans and critics alike there is all the more reason to believe that this will be the most complete and essential Weyes Blood project yet.

Let's start with the singles, as they represent large categories of what appears across most of this album. Andromeda is a huge spacey instrumental that develops in a slow but incredibly satisfying way. It's soft but impactful acoustic instrumentation is a very welcome addition to the mix that helps make the song feel both personal and grand. Even though it isn't the most prominent that Natalie's vocals get it is still a fantastic song when all its elements are blended together. Mirror Forever later in the tracklist presents itself as a tad weaker version of Andromeda with instrumentation that doesn't quite sell the vibe completely and another nondescript vocal performance.

The second single Everyday doesn't have quite the same satisfying build as the other two singles. The verses are so formless that it almost seems like long transitions between what are admirably fantastic choruses. It's a stark track that opens up with some loud piano and transitions into a little bit of a bouncier almost folk inspired moment that doesn't do very much to stick. Picture Me Better also gets off to a little bit of a slow start but also contains a fantastic chorus that makes it a little bit more memorable than its counterpart.

Movies was the third and final single and the one that sent my excitement for this album way up. It's a brilliant track that opens up with a minimalist but very satisfying mix and builds on it with incredible keys and gorgeous vocals into what became my favorite song on the project, The songwriting is fantastic across this album but Movies is a truly brilliant moment. The two interludes on this track are a dichotomy as the more ambient and shapeless Titanic Rising is a really enjoying journey that lands right in the middle of the tracklist and does a lot of good for the flow of the project. The outro cut Nearer To Thee on the other hand does the opposite and drags down the albums final moments to a rather dull cut.

The albums opener A Lot's Gonna Change is a fantastic introduction to the dramatic moments that are to come after it. With swelling huge instrumentation throughout the song and a grand performance from Natalie to match it is a perfect amalgamation of everything you hear across this project. Something To Believe is another excellent track that hits you with a gorgeous but driving instrumental that walks the delicate balance of soft but attention grabbing that this albums hits consistently. Finally Wild Time is one of the most well executed lowkey ballads across Titanic Rising that has some grand and gorgeous songwriting, as well as great transitions between distant quiet moments and more frontal ones.

So this album is clearly excellent, but it comes with some caveats. Yes the chamber pop here is excellent but there are points where Weyed Blood drowns in her influences. Even some of the best moments on here take compositional, instrumental and most noticeably, vocal influence from artists like Julia Holter and Jenny Hval. Titanic Rising is an album I'm excited to revisit for the rest of this year and one that will surely find a way onto my year end lists, the only issue I take with it is that once it is no longer new it's hard to imagine me choosing to revisit it over really any of Julia Holter's project or some of my favorite Jenny Hval moments. So going forward Weyes Blood is very much an act worth looking out for, but all I hope is that she is able to develop a style more her own and apply her clear talent to it. 8/10

For more great female led music check out my review of Solange's When I Get Home here.