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May 27, 2020 By Christopher Roberts Weyes Blood

Weyes Blood (aka Natalie Mering) released a new album, Titanic Rising, back in April 2019 via Sub Pop, her first album for the label. It was #2 on our Top 100 Albums of 2019 list. Now she has shared a self-directed video for the album’s “Wild Time.” It was shot on 16mm before the pandemic and is mildly NSFW due to some nudity. Although, since many of us are working from home these days, perhaps NSFW is irrelevant. Watch it below.

Mering had this to say about the video in a press release statement:

“May 27, 2020

Good day everyone,

Here is a video for my song ‘Wild Time’ that was shot on 16mm pre-pandemic, then edited together during isolation. Felt like the right time to let this video out into the world, seeing as we’re all getting saddled down by some pretty grim realities. This song is about yearning for wildness and Mother Nature in a time of chaos. It’s for sensitive people who worry about the fate of humanity and feel powerless to do anything about it.

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking apocalyptic thoughts and realizing that won’t get you anywhere. What if the world has always been ending? What if the sprawl of our cities are just as wild as the forests? What if climate change and the destruction of our natural habitat is a reflection of the nature within us, however sublimely horrifying and hard to understand? We’re animals, we play out a very precarious drama of life, and we grasp for what’s left of the protective womb—but maybe the notion that we’re somehow separated from her is an illusion. Maybe it is, truly, a wild time to be alive. Maybe getting in touch with that as a culture and society would avert the worst case scenarios of ecological crisis and existential dread.

If you’ve gotten this far, wow, thank you for actually taking the time to read this. In other news, as you may have assumed, I am canceling all of my headline shows for 2020, but I’m beginning to work on my next album that will come out in 2021—a different time, when hopefully we can see each other face to face once again.

xo

Natalie (aka Weyes Blood)”

Pick up our current print issue (the My Favorite Album Issue) to read our interview with Weyes Blood on her all-time favorite album.

Titanic Rising was also our joint Album of the Week and you can read our rave review of it here.

Titanic Rising includes “Andromeda,” a new song she shared in January that was one of our Songs of the Week. When the album was announced Weyes Blood shared a self-directed slasher movie video for the new song “Everyday,” which was our #1 Song of the Week. The album cover was photographed in a bedroom fully submerged in water, with no CGI. Video was also shared of Weyes Blood performing a new song from the album, “Something to Believe,” at Pitchfork’s Midwinter Festival in Chicago. Then she shared another new song, “Movies,” via a self-directed video in which a movie theater audience magically jump into the film they are watching. “Movies” was also one of our Songs of the Week. Weyes Blood also recently sang guest vocals on a song by Drugdealer, “Honey.” Once the album was released album track “Wild Time” was also one of our Songs of the Week. Then she stopped by Late Night with Seth Meyers to perform “Everyday.” Then she stopped by NPR Music to perform three songs as part of their Tiny Desk Concert series, doing “Andromeda,” “Wild Time,” and “Picture Me Better.”

In a previous press release Mering described Titanic Rising as “The Kinks meet WWII or Bob Seger meets Enya.”

Weyes Blood’s last album, Front Row Seat to Earth, made it all the way to #9 on our Top 100 Albums of 2016 list.

Read our interview with Weyes Blood on Front Row Seat to Earth (from our Best of 2016 Issue).

Also read our The End interview with Weyes Blood about endings and death.

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