Love Lights the Way: Weyes Blood’s New Album
Weyes Blood – And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow
Review by Maddy Dean
And In the Darkness, Hearts Aglow by Weyes Blood opens with the slower ballad “It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody.” Weyes Blood sings about how we’ve all become strangers to ourselves; as the instrumentals build, so does her message. We all change throughout time, and loneliness during that change is inevitable. The next few songs are softer, folksy tracks integrated with piano and guitar, ringing with twinges of vocal dissonance that resemble the struggle of finding love, freedom, and identity in a world that seems to be cloaked in darkness. The only light comes from our hearts, our desires, but does this passion lead us in the right direction?
Religious undertones and allusions to the forces of nature are scattered throughout the album, adding to the strength of the songs. In “God Turn Me Into a Flower,” the music is somber, with chords that echo almost like church organs. Towards the end of the song, chirping birds and buzzing insects overpower Weyes Blood’s voice, bringing listeners into her transformative experience that places her closer to nature. The second song, “Children of the Empire,” is filled with a combination of bells, synth organ chords, and a background chorus that resembles a church choir of these children singing to find a way out of the maze, trapped for too long without love. As the song ends with a peaceful harp at the end, we hope that the children found their freedom.
The sixth song of the album “And In the Darkness” serves as a sort of interlude, a transition from the search for love, identity, and belonging to their final discovery. These fifteen seconds of instrumental bliss make listeners question if those hearts aglow are now just fading embers, slowly dissolving to the ashes of memories, of loved ones, of the former image of ourselves.
This tension resolves with the seventh song of the album, “Twin Flame,” which begins with an alternative 80s synth beat. The song stands out from the others that are more instrumental, slower ballads. Yet Weyes Blood is still on the search for her twin flame until the ninth track “The Worst Is Done.” An unsettling synth wave opens to delicate guitar chords, where listeners are introduced to a different world and a different girl. We finally understand how the changes undergone have left us, finding out what we’ve become through a light and upbeat melody.
The album ends with its tenth track “A Given Thing.” The softer song layered with twinkling piano chords tells us that love everlasting does in fact come naturally. Maybe you don’t have to go looking for love in the darkness, led blindly by your heart. Wait it out – it might just come to you on its own.
You can stream/purchase And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow on November 18th, or preorder on Bandcamp below:
