As Weyes Blood, Natalie Mering records in a style that blends psych, folk, and pop, genres that often have had significant overlaps in eras like the 70s and across countries like France and England, and stateside in San Francisco or Upstate New York. Weyes Blood is among them in both spirit and influence, which is further proved in her contribution to our Friday Night series.
Mering describes her “Wild Lings” mix as a grab bag, but that’s not to suggest it was done haphazardly. Each selection was hand picked before it landed in the bag, chosen because of defining characteristics that satisfied a message she wanted to send out like a mixtape in a bottle.
When Mering was originally asked to contribute the idea was that she would present a mix for fall. “Wild Lings” does not stray from that seasonal bend, and yet it goes well beyond mere autumn traits. And whether it was intentional or not, her inclusion of the original sample from Dirty Beaches’ “True Blue” was a blessed tribute to the departed project of Alex Zhang Hungtai.
“Wild Lings” is a suggestively medieval foray into the beauty of the human soul. It’s a grab bag of ethereal synth music, meaningful songs and tranced out celtic psychedelia. Good for a bedroom listen in the midst of modernity chaos, an uplifting spaceship pod back into the depths of this past century. I chose the songs to have an emphasis on triumph, femininity and the more shadowy side of human consciousness and introspection. Be transported!
Weyes Blood’s The Innocents is out now on Mexican Summer.
“Wild Lings Mix” tracklisting:
01 Prelude: The Wildling Loves Me
02 Eduard Artemyev- Siberiade Theme
03 Eola- Panic
04 Brenda Russell- Way Back When
05 Peter Lorre/19th Century Music Box
06 Francoise Hardy- Voila
07 The Stranglers- Don’t Bring Harry
08 Ray Lynch- The Oh of Pleasure
09 The Reels- Return
10 Pearls Before Swine- The Surrealist Waltz
11 Hopkins and Bradley- Nothing Hides Better Than Darkness
12 Thoughts and Words- Morning Sky
13 Demis Roussos- A flower’s All You Need
14 The Temprees- Something So Right
15 Black Way- Follow Me/Gili Smyth- Taliesin
16 Donovan- Margerie Magerine
17 Gili Smyth- Taliesin
