Released April 5, 2019
9 / 10
Favorites
A Lot's Gonna Change, Andromeda, Everyday, Movies
Least favorites
Mirror Forever
"Titanic Rising", Natalie Mering's fourth studio album as Weyes Blood, is firmly grounded in classic songcraft motifs of the 70s and 80s with a penchant for daydream and fantasy that bridges the gap between then and now. Mering's vocal presence elevates her take on psychedelic chamber pop to refreshing levels, helped by some of the most earnest lyrics. "Titanic Rising" has a great deal of old-school charm but also feels undeniably modern: its preoccupations are anchored in the modern world through the lens of millennial fears and anxieties. The record marks a decisive step for Mering into grander arrangements and cinematic compositions which makes all the more remarkable the fact that, despite all the firsts for the singer on "Titanic Rising", it stands as the strongest element of her discography so far. The first half of the album centers on the idea of love in the modern age and the mingling of hope with emotional attachment. The early tracks feel like slow sinking into the underwater realm suggested by the album cover (and title). Mering explained her choice of imagery by saying that "deep space and deep ocean are both very symbolic for the subconscious and, as somebody who is very introspective I am a fan of trying to navigate the unseen, the unknown, and those mysteries that live within ourselves". It all starts with A Lot's Gonna Change in which she describes how she is coping with change, both change around you and change in you. Her approach on the opener announces how she goes on to express a form of optimism rooted in real-world observations - the choice to be hopeful in order to be an actor of change, and not surrender to feelings of paralyzing helplessness - throughout the whole record. The arrangement starts eerily, muffled as if heard underwater before a lone piano kicks off the verse, an organ grows less and less faint, percussions emerge and finally strings join the party (strings were absent from all of Weyes Blood's previous projects!). Mering's vocals are both effortless and spotless, complete with self-harmonies and adroit layering. The majestic intro leads to *Andromeda*, the album's lead single. Andromeda is loosely based on the Greek myth: Andromeda was tied to a rock waiting to be slaughtered by a monster sent by Poseidon to punish her family for their hubris. The waiting and hoping for a savior to come and rescue her has found resonance in Mering's take on modern love. She starts off the song with an attitude of languor, but grows hopeful and realizes "you eventually just have to believe it's real to make it real" (Mering, interview with The Believer, July 2019). This time around, the guitar leads the composition and the organ is notably less gloomy. Both music and lyrics conjure images of a kind of celestial underwater world; her head is both in the clouds and fully immersed in some great oceanic expanse. After expressing the loss of interest in trying so hard to be in love and rejecting the idea of needing to be saved, Weyes Blood then takes on the restlessness of modern dating in Everyday. She acknowledges not having the time to lick her wounds, feeling pressures to get on with life after hurt. Drums are sharp and the guitar is crisp; the song makes for a really nostalgic-sounding jingle-inspired track. The changes of pace and mood are achieved through the addition and removal of instruments, with a chorus that bursts with a kind of forced joy that hits right where it should. The powerful outro lasts for a quarter of the song, ramping up the majestic arrangements, tripping on itself in chaos before sharply disintegrating in a watery echo chamber where it floats for a while, wails ominously, before disappearing. The track refreshes a take on flower-power pop and successfully makes "dated" sound incredibly cool. I love that she doesn't try and use lyrics that would befit the melodies and style in a more obvious fashion; instead she stays true to her experiences (and I have a soft spot for these lines: "The other night, I was at a party / And someone sincerely looked at me / And said, 'Is this the end of all monogamy?'"). The following track, Something to Believe, foreshadows the thematic focus of the second half of the album. Mering sings from a place where all signs of higher meaning have disappeared, asking how to appreciate a life worth living in the absence of a guiding light. Lyrics are pretty straightforward, and for the first time on "Titanic Rising", I feel a slight disconnect between lyrics and melody that doesn't sit so well with me, up until yet another stellar outro. The overlay of vocals, instruments and sound effects, getting busier and louder, with some canon-style touches, rises to the occasion; perhaps reflecting the grandiosity of the "something to believe" Mering is searching for. By the time the title track starts, it feels like we're fully immersed in Weyes Blood's submarine universe. The interlude brings us into the room on the album cover, finding us looking around at the penetrating light bouncing off the undulating parts.
Movies serves both as one of the centerpieces of the record and the introduction to a second part, taking on an existential crisis imbedded in the times we're living in. Those tracks speak of a shared experience, in part due to "the macro experience of climate change and this sense of impeding doom for a lot of millennials" (Mering, Rolling Stone, June 2019). Movies spins with rotating synth arpeggios, evolving in the cold underwater realm the first part of the record has thrown us into. Whereas the preceding interlude felt very close to the picture painted by the album cover, Movies sees us wander in a far bigger expanse, in which light pierces through briefly for the chorus before retreating. Throughout, Mering sounds distant and close at the same time, making the most of her alto. The track is utterly mesmerizing and has - another - astonishing outro that drowns the listener in an overwhelming sonic experience. Lyrics are also fascinating from the opening lines: "This is how it feels to be in love / This is life from above / There's no books anymore / I'm bound to that summer / Big box office hit / Making love to a counterfeit". Mirror Forever addresses the distraction of circumstantial love from getting to know yourself as you truly are. Understandably, Mering gives off an energy of exhaustion that goes with the lyrical content but ends up not giving the track the energy it deserves. The lethargic atmosphere is even draining on the listener. On top of this unfortunate effect, lyrics are overly opaque at time ("You're a demon with a scary picture / I'm a dreamer and you're a tiger"... wait what?). The slow-burning march subdues right before the bridge, a redemptive part of the song with the classic Weyes Blood crescendo that abruptly morphs back into the chorus in a regrettable turn of events. Wild Time addresses Mering's discomfort with the erected systems and leadership at many levels, deploring how capitalism has led to corporations leading discussions around ethics to advance their own interests, money serving as a perturbation to our moral compasses and the performative aspect of politics leading to a lack of faith in the elected. More than that, the track is about learning to live life to the fullest despite this disillusionment. The music starts on a feeble loop of ringing alarm, creating a backdrop from which a guitar strikes and the vocals emerge. Contrary to a lot of the other tracks on "Titanic Rising", the song doesn't air out its melodies much, keeping its momentum going relentlessly. One thing I noted at this point of listening to the album, is that no matter how long tracks are on the record (frequently passing the 5 min mark) I never got fidgety or bored. The next track, Picture Me Better, reminds us that meaning can be found in relationships and what you represent. It goes back to what Mering told Pitchfork about the intent behind "Titanic Rising": "I want to make sure everybody feels like they deserve to be alive". Picture Me Better was written about a friend of Mering's who committed suicide during the time she was making the record. She empathizes with their decision whilst wishing they had seen what she saw in them ("Only, if only you could see"). The sonics has a strong old Hollywood magic, voluntarily stripped of many of the elements featured on other tracks. The way the chorus ends is splendid and the whole track acts a bit like a drawn out cool down after the fervor of the end of Wild Time. A sweet song, so artfully cliché in terms of arrangement choices that it's borderline genius. Despite a sense of unease with the times and how to position oneself in the world, salvation abounds on "Titanic Rising". Nearer To Thee, a direct allusion to the hymn played in the Titanic movie's sinking scene, comes full circle with the chord progression from A Lot's Gonna Change. Indeed, it feels like a lot has changed since the first toe-dipping in the introductory track. One thing has emerged from the rubbles of the ship: the power of Natalie Mering's story-telling and her conviction that life deserves to be lived to its fullest have survived the sinking of her beloved Titanic.
Favorite lyrics
"Drank a lot of coffee today Got lost in the fray, I gave all I had for a time Then by some strange design, I got a case of the empties The ruler of my world, a lost forgotten pearl When fire leaves a girl Too burned to dry my life Living on a fault line And then I- I just laid down and cried The waters don't really go by me Give me something I can see Something bigger and louder than the voices in me Something to believe"
Something to Believe
"Some people feel what some people don't Some people watch until they explode The meaning of life doesn't seem to shine like that screen"
Movies
コメント