Weyes Blood announces new album and shares first single

Weyes Blood has revealed details of her fifth full-length album, and released its first single.

And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow follows on from 2019’s acclaimed Titanic Rising and represents the second chapter in a planned trilogy of albums from the Pennsylvania singer-songwriter, real name Natalie Mering. Where that last album was defined by a sense of foreboding, And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow chronicles “a search for an escape hatch to liberate us from algorithms and ideological chaos,” per a press release.

“We’re in a fully functional shit show,” Mering says of the world around her that inspired the ten tracks on And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow. “My heart is a glow stick that’s been cracked, lighting up my chest in an explosion of earnestness.” The album is her second on Sub Pop, and is set for release on November 18. You can hear the first single, ‘It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody’, below.

Mering, now based in Los Angeles, co-produced the new record with Jonathan Rado and Rodaidh McDonald. Meanwhile, Meg Duffy, Daniel Lopatin and Mary Lattimore are all set to make guest appearances. You can see the full track listing below.

“I was asking a lot of questions while writing these songs, and hyper isolation kept coming up for me,” said Mering in an open letter to listeners. “’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,” she continued. “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.”

Additionally, Mering has announced the ‘In Holy Flux’ tour for 2023, which will see her play five UK dates in February. You can see those below.

Weyes Blood – And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow:

1. ‘It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody’
2. ‘Children of the Empire’
3. ‘Grapevine’
4. ‘God Turn Me Into a Flower’
5. ‘Hearts Aglow’
6. ‘And in the Darkness’
7. ‘Twin Flame’
8. ‘In Holy Flux’
9. ‘The Worst Is Done’
10. ‘A Given Thing’

Weyes Blood, February 2023:

8 – London, Roundhouse

9 – Bristol, SWX

10 – Glasgow, QMU

13 – Manchester, The Ritz

14 – Brighton, Chalk