I keep getting great new LP recommendations on Spotify, jabs from WFUV, KEXP and other free-form radio stations, to the point where it’s gonna be hard to keep up with so many new releases this year via Andrew Bird, Phil Cook, Strand of Oaks, The National, and now Weyes Blood.
The moniker for singer-songwriter Natalie Mering, Weyes Blood’s third LP (and Sub-Pop debut) is a generous dose of symphonic 60’s brill-building and jangle-pop mixed with your mom’s favorite stack of wax. Dusty Springfield, somber Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell, Carole King and other Laurel Canyon alum’s come to mind in this superbly tight record which features Blake Mills and fellow indie-rock studio cohort Jonathan Rado of Foxygen, who co-produced the LP with Mering. On Titanic Rising, plaintive Joni Mitchell or Bob Seeger-ish lyrics like “got up and drank some coffee” meet grandiose Enya and Brian Eno synth-psychedelia melodia on Side 2’s lush, “(I Want to See) Movies” and “Picture Me Better.” *****
Michael Schoeck 