Weyes Blood
Front Row Seat To Earth
[Kemado Records]
A bit of a shot out of the dark, Weyes Blood’s fourth record has already made a bigger dent than any of her previous work. There’s plenty of backstory that Natalie Mering can provide to attach to this work, but Front Row Seat To Earth is so pleasingly open that much of it feels superfluous. Central to this is Wering’s rich, oaky voice. It’s a deeply elegant instrument that is extremely easy on the ear as it rises and falls above deft, luscious arrangements of pianos, organs and keyboards.
While it has been pitched elsewhere – not inaccurately – as fitting into the mold of the post-Tobias Jesso Jr. 1970s singer-songwriter revival, there’s something a bit more abstract Front Row Seat To Earth that calls to mind the recent output of Julia Holter and Beach House.
The back half of the record is a particular delight, with Generation Why, through a combination of digitally treated backing vocals and a chorus of “Y–O–L–O, why?”, managing to jar the retro mood and puncture the seriousness momentarily, while Seven Words’ opening couplet, “These seven words I say to you, one by one/I love you and you have to know” act as a comfort blanket to drape around yourself as this annus horribilis winds to a dark close.
Like this? Try these:
Julia Holter – Have You In My Wilderness
Judee Sill – Judee Sill
Cass McCombs – Wit’s End
Words – Ian Lamont
