And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow
Album by Weyes Blood
Released 18 November 2022
Baroque Pop / Piano Rock
Label – Sub Pop
Rating – 8/10
Beauty.
–
Weyes Blood may transform into any shape, splitting and tilting through some of the most beloved baroque pop of this or any generation, whilst floating in variegated, chamber-bound dream states, prided on 2019’s Titanic Rising. She accentuates on And In the Darkness, Hearts Aglow, purposing harmonic splendour, not a continuation of past triumphs but a grooving cousin to her staples.
Via cogent, acoustic layering (and finger snaps as hardcore as any punk band), she grooves her way into a hippy phase on Children of the Empire, keeping in touch with the overt Joni Mitchell influence that has blessed much of her work. Harps, strings, keyboards; a cacophony – unessential where the standalone beauty of her voice is concerned – makes its role an important one, applying bonus vibrance absent on God Turn Me Into a Flower, with starker, Adam and Eve palettes, and field recordings.
Poppy ‘60s waltzes emerge, with Hearts Aglow eagerly arpeggiating in agreeance with both bygone sunshine pop, and Bach-approved baroque. The poppier pieces are as crucial to the album’s flow as those that attentively build textures – Grapevine being a textbook, densely-potent example – while opening track It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody acts as an in-between, full Joni, whilst tickling fancies of musical progressives and fans of laid-bare open-heartedness, hanging by a thread above stationed piano triads and vintage drums, all mixed as if binging on ‘60s and ‘70s classics.
Interestingly, Twin Flame forms a shift, potentially out-of-place with drum machine abandon. The graceful vocal harmonies bridge a few gaps, but it certainly feels like a song that wouldn’t be included in some versions of the album, like what Elevation is to Marquee Moon. The Worst Is Done holds its own with Joan Baez folk rock, spritelier than Laura Marling, while A Given Thing strips layers back once more, focussing on classically-minded, Let It Be-style piano chords, suiting lyrics of unravelling and nakedness.
And In the Darkness, Hearts Aglow is an album deserving of far more words than what I’ve given. Every generation needs an artist like Weyes Blood; free-thinking amid compositional decisions any audience could embrace, a magical potency worn like bright apparel, presented with ingenuity and class on her latest.
Best tracks – It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody – Hearts Aglow.
Weakest track – Twin Flame.
Rating – 8 out of 10
PEANUTBUTTERPOPE 