Today LA-based chamber pop singer/songwriter Natalie Mering – better known as Weyes Blood — announced new batches of dates in the US (August 23rd-30th and September 12th-14th) and UK/EU (October 28th-November 14th) for her headlining In Holy Flux Tour, in addition to European Festival dates this June and July. Although there are no new local dates, she will be supporting Beck and Phoenix on September 8th at The Mann, in-between these new batches of stateside headlining dates. And if her two sold-out shows last Tuesday and Wednesday at Union Transfer were any indication, it’s well worth turning up early to the show.
Weyes Blood’s current dates are in support of And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow, which dropped last November on Sub Pop. The fifth full-length from the Doylestown native made “Best of 2022” lists for NME, Pitchfork, and our own WXPN, and earned Weyes Blood SPIN’s both Artist and Album of the Year. The album was celebrated almost in full last Tuesday, February 28th, with a 14-song set that included 8 of its 10 tracks. The nearly-90-minute set in Eraserhood’s most famous ballroom opened with the recent LP’s opening track and first single, “It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody,” which set the tone for the dreamily introspective evening, orchestrated by the ineffably ethereal looking Mering, donning a flowing white dress seeming to be swayed by ghosts of her past, present, and future alike.
The set also included half a dozen tracks from Titanic Rising, Weyes Blood’s fourth full-length, including singles “Andromeda,” “Movies,” and “Everyday,” which closed the two-song encore. The last time Mering played these songs for the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection was at the Metropolitan Opera House in 2019, in support of country megastar Kacey Musgraves, an atmosphere that would seem to be a million miles from that of her recent headlining shows. However, the fact that this one-time member of experimental rockers Jackie-O Motherfucker and noise outfit Satanized could transition into a solo artist that regularly draws comparisons to Karen Carpenter and other icons of ‘60s soft rock makes it clear that the music of Mering and Weyes Blood lacks a single “proper” context, and is yet to come off as anything but perfectly sincere and done with admiral aplomb. Get your tickets now to see her next area show, when she’ll be opening a shed for a ‘90s lo-fi legend and the ultimate French indie poppers.
*Get your tickets here.