What does it truly feel like to be incomprehensibly alone? Is anyone ever really alone? Searching for meaning and navigating this life alongside other people certainly comes with challenges. Music has always been a fantastic aid in the circumnavigation of humanity, and artists like singer-songwriter Natalie Mering use the art of song to convey loneliness as a collective state, as one of her newest songs “It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody” suggests. On Nov. 18, Mering, also known as Weyes Blood, released her fifth album titled “And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow,” a follow-up to her 2019 record “Titanic Rising.” In this new album, Mering is deeply personal and explores love, connection amidst the chaos of the world and loneliness in a widening sea of equally lonely people. For those searching for music with elegantly orchestrated instrumentals and beautiful lyricism, “And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow” provides listeners with a roughly 46-minute meditative journey. Using gentle rhythms, various forlorn tonal transitions, alto harmonies and plenty of soft guitar strings, this record uses experimental instrumentals that combine rock and classical music to create melodically organized chamber-baroque pop. Mering’s overall sound is also similar to ‘70s fusion genres and psychedelic rock; fans of Simon & Garfunkel, the Carpenters and Joni Mitchell will find solace in Weyes Blood’s discography. Her music feels familiar as she stays true to the modern era of music.
Her lead single “It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody” opens the album with a slow orchestral introduction that backdrops lyrics describing Mering feeling alone at a party, “Sitting at this party / Wondering if anyone knows me / Really sees who I am / Oh, it’s been so long since I felt really known.” She ponders how to find purpose and connection in the world without losing sense of one’s own identity by pretending to be someone they are not, “We’ve all become strangers / Even to ourselves.” Mering comes to the conclusion at the end of the song that “Yes, we all bleed the same way” — everyone feels the same, as everyone is floating through an expanding and unknown universe together. Later on the album, Mering creates a sense of clarity, growth and change, attributing this to her own personal development after emerging from a state of darkness to light — hence her heart becoming aglow as the album’s namesake conveys. Ultimately, Mering uses this album to explore multiple aspects of the human condition — love, conflict, birth, death and even morality. After streaming “It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody” from beginning to end, listeners will emerge with a new perspective on life and the meaning of loneliness, as Mering reminds us all in her last track “A Given Thing” that love is everywhere, “Oh, it’s a given thing / Love everlasting.”
Live Events Schedule:
Dec. 9: UMI, McMenamins Crystal Ballroom
Dec. 10: Chloe Lilac and Mothé, McMenamins Mission Theater
Dec. 8: Soccer Mommy and TOPS, McMenamins Crystal Ballroom
Dec. 11: Pom Pom Squad and Bartees Strange, Doug Fir Lounge
Dec. 13: Young the Giant, McMenamins Crystal Ballroom
Dec. 18: The Offspring, McMenamins Crystal Ballroom
Olivia is a senior studying English at WSU Vancouver.