Listening to Weyes Blood’s most recent album And in The Darkness, Hearts Aglow could be compared to the feeling of coming home after a day and finding the warm familiarity of your bed. Pulling inspiration from gold-toned 70’s era artists like Joni Mitchell, the album evokes a sense of curiosity, hope, and nostalgia.

Natalie Mering started making music under the name Weyes Blood as a teen, inspired by the Flannery O’Connor novel Wise Blood. Mering spent a near decade experimenting in the abstract noise genre, seen in her 2011 record The Outside Room. Weyes Blood later released her breakthrough album, Titanic Rising in 2019, showing a more polished side to her creativity. The album is a perfect prerequisite to And in The Darkness, Hearts Aglow, keeping the same eccentric energy with richer, hard-hitting instrumentals. The complexity of Mering’s scores, mixing synth and orchestral influences, never gives a dull moment to the listener. In her lyrics, Weyes Blood puts a sound to the idea of alienation. In the album’s opener, “It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody” Weyes Blood writes “Oh, it’s been so long since I felt really known.” Feeling refreshingly angst-free, the album continues to fill with alternating feathery charm seen in songs like “Hearts Aglow” and dark warmth in “A Given Thing.”

Mering’s writing resonates deepest in moments of loneliness, when the full strength of her lyricism is felt. Coming in at 46 minutes with 10 tracks, And in The Darkness, Hearts Aglow is sure to leave a lasting impression on the indie scene of 2022.