Weyes Blood – “Innocents, The” – [Mexican Summer]

Thurston Hunger   5/6/2015   12-inch, A Library

The seasons fall like man, Natalaie Mering sings past the
summer of regret and some winters, desolate and disconsolate.
She sings of being alone though, more than loneliness….and
in truth thanks to the multi-tracking ability of modern sound
capture, she’s never really alone. Her voice overlapping itself
like clouds, high and low, both clipping sun light, the songs
often have a shanty feel…some strength found in the propelling
of minor chords and gently damaged synth. For that check the
lone instrumental, “Montrose” on side B, which hitches a ride
to a drive-in movie The album starts with a mandolin stolen
from the halls of Evermore. Mering’s voice has a husky waver
that shepherds people like myself out of cars and cubicles
into folky forests and rocky moors (well soft rock-y ones).
“Some Winters” hearkens back to her first full length, which
was cloaked in Graham Lambkin’s clang and clutter. I must
confess that was a high water mark for 2011 for me, This
release is more refined, the stone polished more smoothly,
but still her chant matched with Mister Matthews’ vocoder
and analog angles created a slice of ephemeral eternity on
“Requiem for Forgiveness.” Looking forward to more…
(we also have an older Axolotl pairing and Natalie did
time in Jackie O. Motherfucker).
-Thurston Hunger
Wonder if her drummer on here is the godson of Aynsley Dunbar?