Titanic Rising
Details
LP / Format
Sub Pop / Label
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CRITIC REVIEWS
100
The end product is a genuine step forward and then some.
100
The artist ... accompanies her instrumental idiosyncrasies with strong, luscious melodies and unfussy lyrics.
100
Titanic Rising is a revelation. These opulent, sculptural songs have sacrificed none of Mering's idiosyncrasy, or ability to unnerve.
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3y
100
Mering nods toward the darkness, but her music envelops listeners within a free-floating sanctuary. It’s okay to feel. It’s okay to be afraid or angry – but none of that matters, not right now. Not, at least, for the next 42 minutes.
95
Like all the best musicians and songwriters before her, she’s plumbed the depths of her imagination and brought forth a masterpiece from the depths.
91
Titanic Rising ... finds Mering edging her peculiar psych-folk closer than ever to the sound of traditional pop music. For someone with a documented predilection for idiosyncrasy and experimentation, she sounds completely at ease in these new songs, and ready for bigger things ahead.
91
Rado’s opulent production gives the experience of listening to Titanic Rising—particularly on headphones—the feeling of being enveloped in sound, insulated from the outside world like an astronaut looking down at the earth through layers of atmosphere.
90
In committing to the sounds of the past so utterly, she fucks up the linearity and distance of time, proving that feelings of helplessness and heartbreak are as timeless as pop music.
90
Weyes Blood comes through with an immaculately produced and performed baroque pop album in Titanic Rising.
90
Titanic Rising ... is something else; tightly structured, lavishly orchestrated, brilliantly realised.
90
Fantastic songs, meticulously detailed production and a certain, hard to name spark of connection all gel into the near-perfect statement that every part of Mering's strange journey before this led up to.
90
Despite Mering's sonic flights of fancy, Titanic Rising is a lean, 40-minute recording that carefully considers her performative sentiments with fine craftsmanship. No emotions go astray—every full-hearted melody here stirs a passion in both subject matter and skill.
89
Solo act Weyes Blood brings grandeur to a lonely stage production, ethereal at times while shockingly concrete at others, thanks to its intoxicating blend of cosmology and cinema.
85
Given its extensive breadth of stylistic differentiation and enormous crop of influences, Titanic Rising’s most obvious skill lies in just how easily it all fits together.
85
Mering’s soaring vocals and diaristic lyrics anchor the music in the here-and-now while preserving for itself a timeless quality that makes Titanic Rising one of the best albums of 2019 so far.
85
On Weyes Blood's radiant and beautifully anachronistic fourth studio album, Titanic Rising, Natalie Mering achieves a perfectly balanced synthesis between the old and familiar and the new and unexplored.
85
Natalie Mering’s fourth album is a grand, sentimental ode to living and loving in the shadow of doom. It is her most ambitious and complex work yet.
80
It pushes forward too: the way the lush electronics of Movies give way to nervy modernist violins; the clattering percussion of Everyday. Glorious.
80
Titanic Rising is a rewarding listen, and although a few later tracks fade a bit too quickly, the atmosphere and imagery created through the first two-thirds create an album that is definitely worth spending some time with.
80
Ultimately, it is Titanic Rising’s fusion of ancient and contemporary, 70s singer-songwriter tropes and electronic burbles, that convinces; the beauty Weyes Blood offers has its eyes wide open.
80
She is the spokesperson for generation Y. Which in a way cleverly juxtaposes with her o nostalgic 70’s production style of folk and art rock.
80
Titanic Rising is a leap forward for the self-described “nostalgic futurist,” yet Mering’s core musical gifts remain intact.
80
‘Titanic Rising’ harnesses convention and refashions it into something singular. At once a document of this “wild time to be alive” and an escape from it, it’s often remarkably good.
80
It’s a strangely addictive mix, comfort-food nostalgia that telegraphs knowingness without sarcasm, parody or airquotes.
80
Titanic Rising may draw inspiration from the past, but it's ultimately a clear-eyed look at love, catastrophe and hope that's perfect for the present moment.
80
Much like the power of the big screen, ‘Titanic Rising’ presents an immensely elegant journey to a different place and time; in equal parts beautifully delicate and powerful.
80
‘Titanic Rising’ makes you smile even as it explores existential dread.
80
The most powerful tool at Mering's disposal is her voice, a rich, clear bell of a voice that pierces through the album's pianos and lethargic strings.
70
Titanic Rising sounds cathartic and triumphant.
60
On ‘Titanic Rising’, her fourth release under the Weyes Blood moniker, the LA-based musician has drifted further away from the psych-folk and ’70s Laurel Canyon of her early years and towards soft rock.
I've been pretty disgruntled the past couple of days. I was given an opportunity with this album journalists and critics dream of. I got to see Weyes Blood live on her first ever show for her new album. (Strummers in Fresno, CA. 4/1/19) It was a bar show too so the intamacy in the room was on fire. I got to go home with an early vinyl copy of Titanic Rising and I've listened to it several times since then. Every listen I've been left speechless, but that's my issue...what can I say?
I want to ... read more
I find it so strange that this website, album of the year.org, has all come together for this. On this site there is a clear hierarchy of some sort. It's always the same profile pics in the top reviews and it's always a fight of sorts. A fight on if a an album is good, with ratings ranging across the map. I only ever see agreements of 90's and up on "classic albums" our neutral milk hotels, swans, etc. Seeing those pfp and a sea of randoms giving this thing a 100 made me realize ... read more
There is an episode of the Twilight Zone called Midnight Sun, where the earth has been knocked out of orbit and starts drifting towards the sun. Human society begins to deteriorate as the world starts to boil. The episode focuses on two women who are solely existing as their world melts. What is so disturbing about the episode is the inevitable calamity, that we have no power in the face of destruction. We are amid a similar catastrophe. While not hurtling towards the sun, our planet is getting ... read more
https://youtu.be/Bu8bH2P37kY?si=ruzwxWNLQDn8uIm4
Natalie Laura Mering was born in 1988 ( suprise for me, i thought she was like 24 when she released this album), in Santa Monica, California. She was raised in fairly religious family. Since young age, she was surrounded by music as her parents and her older brother are musicians. During her teenage years in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, she started to write her first songs under Weyes Blood moniker. After she finished highschool, she moved to ... read more
This record was my first introduction to Weyes Blood, and God! Natalie Laura Mering, you are so beautiful and thank you so much for this record.
Contributions By
patton, thisisabtlgrnd, indiegalaxy10, philthy, Edgeworth, dearsongs, Leo Aguilar, AndreManfre93, amw100, domvic, Toasterqueen12, anztec, MikeOwen, siberianbreaks, Faint, gm1806Become a Donor
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Track List
| 1 | A Lot's Gonna Change 4:21 | 97 |
| 2 | Andromeda 4:40 | 97 |
| 3 | Everyday 5:07 | 94 |
| 4 | Something to Believe 4:45 | 94 |
| 5 | Titanic Rising 1:36 | 90 |
| 6 | Movies 5:53 | 97 |
| 7 | Mirror Forever 5:05 | 92 |
| 8 | Wild Time 6:09 | 94 |
| 9 | Picture Me Better 3:41 | 93 |
| 10 | Nearer to Thee 1:05 | 90 |
Total Length: 42 minutes
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1mo
Good album, especially for these times. Not as good as the classics but it has their spirit.
Added on: February 10, 2019