Weyes Blood’s And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow is a luminous follow-up to her critically acclaimed 2019 album Titanic Rising, continuing the thematic exploration of human frailty amidst societal collapse. Natalie Mering, the creative force behind Weyes Blood, crafts an expansive and introspective sound that balances between baroque pop, folk, and lush orchestral arrangements. In the broader music landscape, the album stands as a reflection of a post-pandemic world, where the fragility of human connections and the looming shadow of environmental and social crises feel more present than ever.

Artistic Intentions

And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow feels less like a departure and more like a deepening of the ideas Mering has already been working through. While Titanic Rising meditated on impending doom with a futuristic lens, this album moves inward, drawing on more intimate themes of love, longing, and isolation. There’s a haunting romanticism that colors the entire record—where Titanic Rising had a prophetic, almost cinematic scope, this album settles into a more human-scale portrayal of emotions.

Mering has described this project as the second chapter in a three-part trilogy, with Titanic Rising being the opening act of reflection on existential dread. With And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow, she delves deeper into the emotional fallout of living in an increasingly fractured world. In interviews, Mering has mentioned that she wanted to capture the feeling of disconnection while still holding onto hope for connection—an ambition that’s felt in both her lyrics and the sweeping, immersive instrumentation. It’s an album about collective grief and individual yearning, where hearts still flicker with warmth despite the darkness pressing in from all sides.

Sonic Exploration

And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow is an auditory tapestry, meticulously crafted with rich, immersive production that leans into a dreamy, cinematic quality. The production, overseen by Mering and Jonathan Rado of Foxygen, is crisp and expansive, yet never feels over-polished. There’s a subtle clarity to each track, where every instrument and vocal layer occupies its own space, but the overall atmosphere retains an ethereal warmth. This balance of lushness and precision creates a sense of vast emotional depth, perfectly aligning with the album’s themes of yearning and human fragility. It’s the kind of sound that invites listeners to sink into its sonic landscape and lose themselves in its intricacies.

Mering’s voice is, as always, front and center, and the production elevates her vocals into something almost transcendental. Her voice is both haunting and comforting—often drenched in reverb, giving it a ghostly quality, while also resonating with a direct emotional weight. The arrangements surrounding her voice are intricately layered, with a mix of acoustic and electronic elements that swirl together to form a soft, shimmering backdrop. Strings and horns are used to great effect, adding a sense of grandeur and melancholy, while synths provide a futuristic sheen, especially in tracks like “It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody” and “Grapevine.”

Musical Arrangements

Instrumentally, the album features a broad palette, blending orchestral instrumentation with folk and baroque pop sensibilities. The arrangements are deliberate, almost meditative, with moments of stillness that allow the listener to fully absorb the sonic beauty. Tracks like “Children of the Empire” feature sweeping strings and woodwinds, while others, like “Hearts Aglow,” lean into delicate piano and guitar arrangements, with subtle synth textures swirling underneath. What’s most striking is how the album’s instrumentation reflects its themes—just as Mering grapples with disconnection and longing, the music builds slowly, often unfurling like a soft breeze before cascading into moments of sweeping intensity.

Genre Elements

In terms of genre, And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow comfortably straddles multiple boundaries. There’s a heavy influence of baroque pop, with its orchestral flourishes and classical undertones, but the album also dips into psychedelic folk, art-pop, and even soft rock in places. Mering has always drawn from 1970s influences—there are hints of Laurel Canyon folk in her acoustic arrangements, as well as the widescreen, almost prog-rock ambition of artists like Pink Floyd and Kate Bush. Yet, she synthesizes these influences into something distinctly her own. The album’s sound is timeless, yet forward-looking, blending genres in a way that feels more like a natural extension of her artistic voice than a conscious effort to experiment.

What’s remarkable is how seamlessly Weyes Blood blends these genre elements without losing cohesion. Each track feels like a distinct movement within the larger whole, yet the album maintains a unified tone of melancholic beauty throughout. Whether it’s the folk-like strumming of “Grapevine” or the celestial synths on “Twin Flame,” the album remains tethered to its central theme of navigating the emotional labyrinth of human connection in a fractured world. It’s a sonic world that feels both familiar and otherworldly, echoing influences from the past while offering a fresh and deeply personal interpretation of them.

Lyrical Analysis

At the heart of And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow lies an emotional and philosophical inquiry into connection, isolation, and the fragility of human relationships in a world that feels increasingly disconnected. Weyes Blood, known for her reflective and often introspective lyrics, expands on these themes with a poetic yet direct style, inviting listeners to confront the emotional complexity of living in uncertain times. The central themes of love, loss, existential yearning, and the search for meaning are woven throughout the album, creating a lyrical narrative that feels deeply personal but also universal.

Themes

The album’s lyrics repeatedly touch on the idea of a world on the brink—social, environmental, and emotional collapse are all at play—but Mering approaches these weighty topics through the lens of intimate human experiences. For example, in the opening track, “It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody,” she explores the feeling of collective disconnection, singing, “Sitting at this party / Wondering if anyone knows me / Really sees who I am.”

These lines speak to the tension between being surrounded by others and feeling utterly alone, a recurring motif across the album. This theme of dissonance between internal and external realities runs throughout the record, grounding Mering’s existential musings in the everyday emotional landscape we all navigate.

Lyrical Depth

The lyrics on And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow are poetic without being overly abstract. Mering’s language is clear and vivid, often offering profound insights in the simplest of phrases. In “Grapevine,” for instance, she reflects on a love gone wrong with an almost cinematic clarity: “California’s my body / And your fire runs over me.” Here, Mering uses the natural imagery of California’s iconic landscape to articulate the pain and beauty of a past relationship. This marriage of the personal with the universal—small moments that feel like grand statements—is a signature of her lyrical style. She can turn an individual heartache into a sweeping metaphor for larger cultural anxieties, making the personal feel epic in scale.

Recurring motifs of nature, light, and fire permeate the album, adding symbolic weight to the emotional narrative. Fire, for example, appears as both a destructive and life-giving force, reflecting the dual nature of human connection—at once capable of warmth and also of devastating burn. In “Hearts Aglow,” Mering captures the fragile hope of holding onto love amidst chaos: “My heart’s aglow / We don’t know where we’re going.” The image of a glowing heart in darkness recurs across multiple tracks, serving as a metaphor for resilience and vulnerability, the persistence of love in the face of a fractured world.

The lyrics on this album also reflect a growing maturity in Mering’s songwriting, balancing deeply felt emotion with subtle philosophical reflection. The album isn’t afraid to linger in sadness or uncertainty, yet there’s always a flicker of hope, a sense that connection, though fraught, is still possible. Tracks like “Children of the Empire” grapple with generational disillusionment, but there’s an underlying plea for unity and understanding: “Before we all fade away/ Children of the empire wanna change.” Mering taps into the collective angst of a generation but channels it through personal narratives, making the lyrics feel both contemporary and timeless.

Emotional Impact

Emotionally, the lyrics are a crucial anchor for the album’s power. Mering’s words evoke a deep sense of empathy—her vulnerability allows listeners to tap into their own feelings of isolation, love, and loss. Songs like “God Turn Me Into a Flower” push the emotional resonance to its peak, where the lyrics are almost secondary to the raw feeling they convey. The simplicity of the lines, “It’s good to be soft when they push you down/ Oh, God, turn me into a flower” paints a yearning for transformation, for a return to something pure and untouched, making the listener contemplate their own need for escape or renewal.

Cohesion and Flow

One of the most remarkable aspects of And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow is its seamless cohesion, both thematically and musically. The album unfolds with a graceful sense of purpose, each track flowing into the next in a way that feels both deliberate and natural, much like chapters in a well-crafted novel. From the opening notes of “It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody” to the closing hum of “A Given Thing,” Weyes Blood crafts an emotional and sonic journey that maintains a delicate balance between introspection and grandeur, pulling the listener deeper into its immersive world with every track.

Track Progression

The progression of the album feels carefully curated, with each song building on the emotional and thematic weight of the previous one. For example, the opener, “It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody,” sets the tone with its sweeping orchestral arrangements and reflections on collective isolation, introducing the central themes of connection and disconnection. From there, the album moves through various emotional landscapes—“Grapevine” delves into personal loss and longing, while “Children of the Empire” broadens the scope to generational disillusionment. Yet, even as the subject matter shifts from the personal to the collective, the tone remains consistent, with each song serving as a puzzle piece in a larger emotional narrative.

The pacing of the album is another key to its cohesiveness. The songs alternate between more expansive, grand arrangements and quieter, more introspective moments, allowing the listener to fully absorb the emotional highs without feeling overwhelmed. Tracks like “Hearts Aglow” and “Twin Flame” slow the pace just enough to provide moments of reflection before the album builds back up again. This ebb and flow keeps the listener engaged, while also giving the record a cinematic quality—like a film score that ebbs between tension and release.

Thematic Consistency

Thematic consistency is one of the album’s strongest assets. The motifs of light, darkness, fire, and nature are woven throughout the entire album, reinforcing the central themes of love, human fragility, and the search for connection in an increasingly fragmented world. Even as Mering shifts between the grand, existential reflections and more intimate, personal narratives, the emotional throughline is clear.

In “God Turn Me Into a Flower,” the album’s themes of vulnerability and transformation are distilled into a simple, almost prayer-like plea, while the following track, “Hearts Aglow,” builds on this sense of fragility with its depiction of love as both a beacon of hope and a source of pain. These recurring images and metaphors tie the songs together, creating a sense of thematic unity that gives the album a clear identity.

Musically, the album also maintains a consistent sonic palette, which contributes to its cohesive feel. The blend of baroque pop, folk, and orchestral elements remains constant throughout, grounding the album even as it touches on a range of emotions. Whether it’s the rich string arrangements in “Children of the Empire” or the atmospheric synths in “Twin Flame,” the instrumentation never strays too far from the album’s core aesthetic. Even tracks that feature more modern, electronic elements, like “Twin Flame,” feel like natural extensions of the album’s sound rather than departures.

There are no jarring shifts or tonal missteps; instead, each track feels like a natural evolution of the last. The progression from the hopeful yet melancholic “Hearts Aglow” to the introspective, almost meditative closer “A Given Thing” creates a sense of closure without fully resolving the emotional tension. By the end, there’s a lingering sense of unresolved longing, but it feels intentional—an echo of the themes of yearning and incompleteness that permeate the album.

Standout Tracks and Moments

And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow is filled with standout tracks and moments that showcase both Weyes Blood’s artistic vision and emotional depth. While the album functions beautifully as a cohesive whole, several tracks and specific moments rise to the surface as particularly powerful, highlighting Mering’s mastery of songwriting, arrangement, and vocal performance.

Key Tracks

“It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody”

This track is an immediate standout as the album’s opener, setting the tone for the entire record. Its lush orchestration and contemplative lyrics about collective alienation resonate deeply in a post-pandemic world. The song’s sweeping strings and gentle piano build to a cathartic climax, with Mering’s voice soaring above, ethereal yet grounded in emotion. Lyrically, it distills the core theme of the album—the shared feeling of disconnection in a chaotic world—into a universal statement. The grandeur of the arrangement, coupled with the raw vulnerability in the lyrics, makes this song both an artistic and emotional highlight.

“Grapevine”

“Grapevine” is one of the album’s most personal and haunting tracks. With its folk-leaning acoustic guitar and cinematic imagery of California’s landscapes, Mering paints a vivid picture of a love unraveling. The line “California’s my body, and your fire runs over me” is one of the album’s most memorable and poetic moments, capturing the pain of a lost connection through visceral, natural imagery. The song’s slow-burning progression mirrors the emotional toll of love slipping away, and the instrumental break—featuring melancholic strings—elevates the song’s poignancy. It’s a masterclass in storytelling through music, a perfect marriage of lyrical depth and sonic texture.

“Hearts Aglow”

The title track encapsulates the emotional core of the album. With a delicate balance of vulnerability and hope, Mering sings about love’s enduring power amidst the darkness, her voice floating over gentle piano chords and swelling strings. The song’s refrain—”My heart’s aglow”—becomes a mantra of resilience, evoking a deep sense of yearning for connection. There’s a subtle power in the way the song builds without ever fully erupting into a crescendo, allowing the tension between light and darkness to linger. This restraint heightens the emotional impact, making it one of the album’s most affecting tracks.

“God Turn Me Into a Flower”

One of the most spiritual and meditative songs on the album, “God Turn Me Into a Flower” stands out for its simplicity and vulnerability. The lyrics, a plea for transformation and escape from human frailty, are delivered with heartbreaking sincerity. The track is minimalistic in its arrangement, with Mering’s delicate vocals supported by atmospheric synths and a gentle, cascading melody. As the song progresses, it dissolves into an ambient, almost transcendental soundscape, as if drifting into another realm. This track exemplifies Mering’s ability to evoke powerful emotions through restraint and subtlety.

“Twin Flame”

A sonic outlier, “Twin Flame” introduces a more modern, electronic edge to the album while maintaining the emotional depth that defines the record. The track’s pulsating synths and electronic beats create a shimmering, almost otherworldly atmosphere. This shift in sound adds a new dimension to the album, showing Mering’s versatility as an artist. The song’s exploration of the mystical connection between soulmates complements the album’s recurring themes of love and longing, making it both a sonic and thematic highlight.

Memorable Moments

The sweeping orchestral climax in “It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody”

The crescendo of strings and Mering’s soaring vocal melody towards the end of this track creates one of the most transcendent moments on the album. It’s a perfect blend of melancholy and hope, capturing the complexity of collective emotional struggle with a grandeur that feels almost cinematic.

The line “California’s my body” in “Grapevine”

This lyric stands out for its vivid imagery and emotional resonance. It encapsulates the pain of love lost, using California’s geography as a metaphor for both beauty and destruction. It’s one of those lines that lingers long after the song ends, showcasing Mering’s poetic prowess.

The atmospheric dissolve in “God Turn Me Into a Flower”

As the song drifts into its ambient outro, the music slowly fades into a soft, transcendent wash of sound, giving the listener a moment of introspection. This use of silence and space creates a deeply spiritual moment, leaving a lasting emotional impact as it echoes the album’s themes of fragility and transformation.

The restrained build of “Hearts Aglow”

Instead of resolving into a grand finale, “Hearts Aglow” hovers in a state of emotional tension, allowing the listener to sit with the unresolved yearning in the lyrics. This subtlety is a testament to Mering’s skill as a songwriter—she knows when to hold back, making the quiet moments as powerful as the louder ones.

The shimmering electronic textures in “Twin Flame”

This track’s introduction of electronic elements is a memorable shift in the album’s sound, adding a layer of mysticism that feels refreshing without being jarring. The shimmering synths provide a sense of celestial, otherworldly beauty that aligns with the song’s exploration of deep, spiritual connections.

Artistic Contribution and Innovation

And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow firmly positions Weyes Blood as one of the most distinctive and innovative voices in contemporary music, especially within the realms of baroque pop, art rock, and folk. While her sound draws from the rich tradition of 1960s and 1970s singer-songwriters—echoing influences like Joni Mitchell, Karen Carpenter, and Harry Nilsson—Natalie Mering has managed to carve out a space that feels uniquely her own. This album, like its predecessor Titanic Rising, blends vintage aesthetics with modern existential themes, pushing the boundaries of genre and expanding the emotional and conceptual potential of pop music.

Within the broader landscape of indie and alternative music, And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow stands as a deeply introspective, almost philosophical work in an industry where commercial pop trends often favor immediacy and surface-level emotion. Mering’s commitment to crafting layered, slow-burning compositions that marry orchestral grandeur with intimate folk sensibilities feels like a bold artistic choice in an era that increasingly values brevity and virality. By rejecting quick gratification and instead offering songs that demand patience and immersion, Weyes Blood challenges listeners to engage with her music on a deeper level, making the album feel more like a meditative experience than a collection of pop songs.

Pushing Boundaries within Genre

While baroque pop and art-rock have long embraced lush, orchestral arrangements, And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow breathes new life into these genres by pairing them with introspective, existential themes that feel especially relevant in today’s climate. The album’s ability to combine expansive, almost cinematic arrangements with deeply personal, poetic lyrics pushes the boundaries of what baroque pop can achieve. It’s an album that doesn’t shy away from philosophical musings about love, alienation, and the disintegration of human connection, yet it grounds these themes in a sound that’s both timeless and contemporary.

One of the most innovative aspects of the album is its seamless blend of organic and synthetic elements. The lush string arrangements and acoustic guitar flourishes that recall the golden era of 1970s folk are paired with modern production techniques and subtle electronic textures, as heard in tracks like “Twin Flame.” This fusion of old and new doesn’t feel forced—it’s fluid and natural, allowing Mering to inhabit multiple musical worlds without losing cohesion. This approach also sets her apart from other artists working within the same genres, as she brings a level of conceptual sophistication and sonic exploration that feels distinctly fresh.

Innovation in Thematic Exploration

Thematically, And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow offers a deep and poignant reflection on the human condition in an age of uncertainty and fragmentation. While many albums touch on themes of love and loss, Mering elevates these concepts to a more existential level, exploring the fragility of human relationships against the backdrop of a collapsing world. Her willingness to explore such weighty, universal themes—often through deeply personal and poetic lenses—sets her apart from her contemporaries. The idea of using love as a metaphor for hope in the face of societal disintegration, as seen in songs like “It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody” and “Hearts Aglow,” feels particularly resonant in today’s world.

Mering’s use of recurring motifs—light, darkness, fire, and nature—throughout the album ties the personal to the universal in innovative ways. These symbols, often used to explore love, yearning, and transformation, add layers of meaning to each track and provide a cohesive narrative framework for the album. This consistency of theme, paired with the depth of Mering’s lyricism, is where much of the album’s innovation lies. By turning deeply personal emotions into grand, almost cosmic reflections on human existence, she reinvents the traditional love song into something far more expansive and thought-provoking.

Production and Arrangement Innovation

The production on And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow is another area where Mering’s innovation shines. Her collaboration with Jonathan Rado results in a sound that is both sprawling and intimate, balancing orchestral instrumentation with a sense of restraint that allows the emotions to take center stage. The use of space and silence in tracks like “God Turn Me Into a Flower” is a testament to Mering’s understanding of how to create emotional resonance through minimalism. The way the music dissolves into an ambient soundscape at the end of this track is an unconventional and striking artistic choice that leaves the listener suspended in a state of reflection.

Another innovative production choice is the way Mering uses her voice as an instrument, layering it with reverb and echo to give it an almost spectral quality. This ethereal vocal treatment enhances the themes of isolation and longing, making her voice feel both present and distant—much like the emotions she is singing about. This vocal approach is particularly effective in songs like “Children of the Empire” and “Hearts Aglow,” where her voice seems to float above the instrumentation, conveying both intimacy and otherworldliness.

Closing Thoughts

And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow solidifies Weyes Blood’s reputation as one of the most thoughtful and innovative artists of her generation, blending rich orchestration, poetic lyricism, and emotional depth into a cohesive, mesmerizing experience. The album’s greatest strength lies in its ability to marry personal vulnerability with sweeping, existential themes, creating a work that feels intimate yet universal. Mering’s lush production, coupled with her ethereal vocals and intricate arrangements, invites listeners into a reflective space, where they can ponder both their inner emotional landscapes and the broader world around them.

Thematically, the album succeeds in addressing complex issues of love, loss, and human connection in a world that often feels alienating and fractured. Mering’s lyrics are rich with imagery and symbolism, adding layers of meaning to each track and ensuring that the songs reward close listening and repeated engagement. The cohesion of the album, both in terms of its sonic landscape and thematic consistency, is one of its standout qualities, making it feel like a unified artistic statement rather than a collection of disparate songs.

Weaknesses

One minor weakness, however, may be the album’s pacing for some listeners. The meditative, slow-burning quality that defines many of the tracks could feel too introspective or languid for those looking for more dynamic shifts in tempo or mood. While the album’s flow is intentional and elegant, it may demand more patience than some casual listeners are willing to give. Additionally, while the lyrical depth and poetic nature of Mering’s songwriting are undeniably compelling, the album’s philosophical and abstract themes might feel esoteric to those who prefer more straightforward storytelling.

Place In Career

That said, And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow is an album that thrives on subtlety and emotional complexity, offering a rich, immersive experience for those willing to engage with it fully. Its potential impact on listeners is profound—it speaks to the collective anxieties of our time, while also offering a flicker of hope and a reminder of the power of love and connection in the midst of darkness.

In terms of its place within Weyes Blood’s career, this album feels like a natural continuation of the artistic journey she began with Titanic Rising, deepening the themes she introduced and expanding her sonic palette. It’s another chapter in what appears to be a larger, conceptual trilogy, and it positions her as a master of combining timeless, orchestral pop with modern existential reflections.

Overall, And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow is a striking artistic achievement that will likely resonate with listeners for years to come. Its ambitious scope, paired with its intimate emotional core, makes it one of the standout releases of 2022.

Official Rating

The album earns a 9 for its meticulous production, thematic depth, and emotional resonance. Weyes Blood’s ability to create a cohesive, immersive listening experience is unparalleled, and the subtle innovations in blending genres and production styles add layers of freshness to her sound. While its slow pacing and abstract lyrical themes might not resonate with every listener, the artistic vision and execution of And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow are undeniably impressive, making it one of the most emotionally compelling and artistically innovative albums of the 2020s’.