After a breadcrumb trail of teasers, we can finally officially confirm that Weyes Blood is back, baby. Sub Pop will release the Natalie Mering project’s latest album, And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow, on Nov. 18, and its opening track and lead single “It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody” is out now.
The track is one of 10 that “shed light on the meaning of our contemporary disillusionment,” as Mering writes in an extensive letter accompanying the album’s announcement, describing 2019’s Titanic Rising as “the first album of three in a special trilogy”:
[Titanic Rising] was an observation of things to come, the feelings of impending doom. And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow is about entering the next phase, the one in which we all find ourselves today—we are literally in the thick of it. Feeling around in the dark for meaning in a time of instability and irrevocable change. Looking for embers where fire used to be. Seeking freedom from algorithms and a destiny of repetitive loops.
”([S]poiler alert: the next one will be about ‘hope’),” a press release teases.
Mering’s letter also details the concept of “It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody”:
“It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody” is a Buddhist anthem, ensconced in the interconnectivity of all beings, and the fraying of our social fabric. Our culture relies less and less on people. This breeds a new, unprecedented level of isolation. The promise we can buy our way out of that emptiness offers little comfort in the face of fear we all now live with—the fear of becoming obsolete. Something is off, and even though the feeling appears differently for each individual, it is universal.
Mering co-produced most of her follow-up to Titanic Rising—Paste’s top album of 2019—alongside Jonathan Rado, teaming with Rodaidh McDonald for closer “A Given Thing.” Mixed by Kenny Gilmore at 101 Studio in Los Angeles, and mastered by Emily Lazar and Chris Allgood at The Lodge in New York City, And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow features guest spots from Meg Duffy (Hand Habits), Daniel Lopatin (Oneohtrix Point Never) and Mary Lattimore.
Weyes Blood will support the new album on the newly announced In Holy Flux Tour, named for an And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow track. The international headlining tour kicks off in spring 2023, with U.K. and E.U. dates starting Jan. 28, 2023, at Festsaal Kreuzberg in Berlin and ending Feb. 14 at CHALK in Brighton, U.K. The tour’s North American leg runs Feb. 22 (Nashville’s Brooklyn Bowl) through April 2 (Tulsa’s Cain’s Ballroom), as it currently stands. Tickets go on sale Friday, Sept. 16, at 10 a.m. local time.
Check out “It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody” (plus Weyes Blood’s 2015 Daytrotter session) below, and find the details of And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow, Mering’s letter and her tour dates further down.
And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow Tracklist:
01. It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody
02. Children of the Empire
03. Grapevine
04. God Turn Me Into a Flower
05. Hearts Aglow
06. And in the Darkness
07. Twin Flame
08. In Holy Flux
09. The Worst Is Done
10. A Given Thing
And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow Art:
Weyes Blood Tour Dates:
December
08 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Theatre at Ace Hotel [SOLD OUT]
09 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Theatre at Ace Hotel
January
28 – Berlin, DE @ Festsaal Kreuzberg
30 – Stockholm, SE @ Berns
31- Oslo, NO @ Rockefeller
February
01 – Copenhagen, DK @ VEGA
03 – Cologne, DE @ Kulturkirche
04 – Paris, FR @ Le Trianon
05 – Brussels, BE @ Botanique – Orangerie
06 – Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso
08 – London, UK @ Roundhouse
09 – Bristol, UK @ SWX
10 – Glasgow, UK @ QMU
12 – Dublin, IE @ Vicar Street
13 – Manchester, UK @ O2 Ritz
14 – Brighton, UK @ CHALK
22 – Nashville, TN @ Brooklyn Bowl
23 – Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse
24 – Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel
25 – Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle
27 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
28 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
March
03 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel
05 – Boston, MA @ Royale
07 – Montreal, QC @ Corona Theatre
08 – Toronto, ON @ The Danforth Music Hall
10 – Detroit, MI @ El Club
11 – Chicago, IL @ Riviera Theatre
13 – Milwaukee, WI @ The Pabst Theater
14 – Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
15 – Des Moines, IA @ Wooly’s
17 – Englewood, CO @ Gothic Theatre
18 – Salt Lake City, UT @ The Depot
19 – Boise, ID @ Knitting Factory Concert House
21 – Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom
22 – Seattle, WA @ The Showbox
23 – Portland, OR @ McMenamins Crystal Ballroom
25 – San Francisco, CA @ The Regency Ballroom
28 – Phoenix, AZ @ The Van Buren
29 – Santa Fe, NM @ Meow Wolf
31 – Austin, TX @ Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheater
April
01 – Dallas, TX @ Studio at The Factory
02 – Tulsa, OK @ Cain’s Ballroom
