Technological fatigue. Narcissism anxiety. A galaxy of isolation. These are the new norms keeping Weyes Blood (aka Natalie Mering) up at night and the themes at the heart of her latest release, And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow (Sub Pop Records). 

The album is her follow-up to the acclaimed Titanic Rising. (Pitchfork, NPR, The Guardian admiringly named it one of 2019’s best.)  Where Titanic was an observation of doom to come, And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow is about being in the thick of it: a search for an escape hatch to liberate us from algorithms and ideological chaos. “We’re in a fully functional shit show,” Mering says. “My heart is a glow stick that’s been cracked, lighting up my chest in an explosion of earnestness.”

And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow opens with the wistful, winsome “It's Not Just Me, It's Everybody” — about the interconnectivity of all beings, but also the fraying of society around us. “I was asking a lot of questions while writing these songs. Hyper isolation kept coming up,” Mering says. “Our culture relies less and less on people. Something is off, and even though the feeling appears differently for each individual, it is universal.”

Other tracks follow in kind. The lullaby-like “Grapevine” chronicles the splintering of a human connection. The otherworldly dirge “God Turn Me into a Flower” serves as an allegory about our collective hubris. “The Worst Is Done” is an ominous warning, set against a deceivingly breezy pop melody. 

“Chaos is natural. But so is negentropy, or the tendency for things to fall into order,” she says. “These songs may not be manifestos or solutions, but I know they shed light on the meaning of our contemporary disillusionment.”

Ohio boys, making beautiful noise⁣ 
'Copper Changes Color' out now: https://caamp.lnk.to/CopperChangesColor

Richmond, Virginia based The Trillions siphon sounds from their favorite high-intensity bands: some pop wizardry from The Strokes, big-and-loud drums from Led Zeppelin and The Who, a dose of bombastic shred and guitar feedback from Pinkerton-era Weezer, smears of vocal attitude from The Buzzcocks, all drizzled with some topical lyrics and harmonies à la The Beatles, The Zombies, or Dr. Dog. In 2013, they were named as one of Virginia's top 12 bands you should listen to now by Paste magazine. The band recently toured with J Roddy Walston and the Business. That tour included a sold out show at New York’s famous Bowery Ballroom, as well as, sold out shows in Boston and Richmond. Since 2010, the band has also opened up for national touring acts such as The Head and The Heart, Girl Talk, Best Coast, Motion City Soundtrack, Thao & The Get Down Stay Down, Jukebox the Ghost, and many others. The Trillions feature Charlie Glenn (guitar, vocals), Chris Smith (guitar, vocals), Robbie King (bass) and Jacob Shank (drummer).

Available June 11th! Pre-order on iTunes!

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/southeastern/id644761037?uo=4

Markus J. Buehler is the McAfee Professor of Engineering at MIT, and a composer of experimental, classical and electronic music, with an interest in sonification. Using an approach termed "materiomusic", his artistic work explores the creation of new forms of musical expression - such as those derived from biological materials and living systems - as a means to better understand the underlying science and mathematics. One of his goals is to use musical and sound design as a novel and abstract way to model, optimize and create new forms of matter from the bottom up, and to assess cross-system design relationships. He is also interested in research to explore relationships between classical music, mathematics, and the physical and biological sciences, an in the mapping of models of consciousness across systems. In recent work he has developed a new framework to compose music based on proteins – the basic molecules of all life, as well as other physical phenomena such as fracturing, to explore similarities and differences across species, scales and between philosophical and physical models. 

Contact: mbuehler@MIT.EDU

MY FACE HURTS FROM SMILING - THE MIXTAPE - OUT FRIDAY 6/27

Check out my very first fans on SoundCloud! - https://bit.ly/4bkp7pP

MANAGEMENT:
Danny Rukasin and Brandon Goodman

BOOKING:
Tom Windish and Sara Bollwinkel
BillieEilishBooking@paradigmagency.com

PUBLICITY:
Alex Baker
alexandra@highrisepr.com

k.co is following