Prepare to be mesmerized! Weyes Blood has a beautiful alto voice! As ballads go about feeling desperate loneliness and not knowing what to do, you can’t do better than wanting to listen over and over again. As Vodka was writing this review, I listened twice in quick succession and then pre-ordered the CD. I must have more of this wonderful voice!   It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody (heard here) is striking, in melody, in the lyrics, in that voice. To be clear, this is not a lyric that will positively resolve into something hopeful. That’s not going to happen, but if anything is hopeful, it is the way that Weyes Blood sings these messages. 

Weyes Blood is not new on the music scene. She has one heck of a following for good reason. She’s been at this for more than 16 years. In the early days, she waffled between Americana and folk. In the bulk of her music, electronics play a big part. Normally electronic music tends to play with the same introductions, themes, and melodies and isn’t all that interesting to me, but not here! Born Natalie Laura Mering in June 1988 into a religious family, the artist claims church music as an influence. Not the theory or the words, but the sound and feelings that church music has the potential to evoke. It’s no wonder, then, that It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody feels grand and expansive. The earnestness with which Weyes Blood delivers her message is absolutely engaging: 

“Living in the wake of overwhelming changes
We’ve all become strangers
Even to ourselves
We just can’t help
We can’t see from far away
To know that every wave might not be the same
But its all apart of one big thing

Oh it’s not just me, it’s not just me
It’s not just me, it’s everybody”

It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody is the lead-off track to Weyes Blood’s new LP, And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow due out November 18, 2022.

You can find some additional information about Weyes Blood by heading up to her website. None of her social or streaming sites is posted prominently there, however. You have to click on the store link to even get the Facebook and Twitter links, while bandcamp.com, apple music, and Spotify are all completely missing. From a marketing point of view, this is not a good thing. It’s important to link all of your information to everything else. Give people the maximum chance to purchase your music or give you streaming credit. Also missing is any sort of biography, but you can get some additional information from her Wikipedia page. 

Marketing aside, if you are like Vodka and just stumbled onto Weyes Blood for the first time, then you need to check her out!  This is amazing music from an artist who has been at the game for a long time. She deserves to be heard widely! Consider purchasing her back catalog, and watch for And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow when it is released in November!