Weyes Blood Speaks to Hot Press Ahead of Button Factory Gig

Set to play the Button Factory this Saturday (October 26), the American singer spoke with the magazine about a variety of topics, including her album’s evocative title: “It means a bunch of different things. Mostly, I was trying to comment on the idea of the Titanic being this very historical example of the hubris of man and our lack of dominion over nature.”

“A lot of the issues that we’re dealing with now - climate change, things of that nature – to me also reflect that. I guess you could look at it like the Titanic crashed into an iceberg and sank and instead were melting the polar icecaps.”

Despite this and other dark themes, Titanic Rising earned huge acclaim for its cathartic quality and ability to find hopefulness in sorrow. Speaking on whether this was a conscious choice, Mering said: “I wanted to show that these big issues and existential crises we all face are just kind of a backdrop to how beautiful it is to even exist. That's my goal as an artist.”

The singer also discussed her musical evolution from playing bass for experimental noise rockers Jackie-O Motherfucker at 19 to the more classical chamber pop she makes now. “That kind of music imploded in on itself. It just became really oversaturated with poor quality - people who thought: 'Anybody could do that. I'm going to put out a CD-R and book a tour'. At a certain point, it just eclipsed itself and no longer was a vibrant valuable musical experience for me.”

“I got more into things that were harder to do like writing songs and putting on a same consistent show every night. I saw that as a new fresh challenge and the improvising and the noise as kind of tired. I still have a great appreciation for it. But after journeying to the outskirts of extreme music culture, it was nice to journey back to the centre and make songs. It was a very natural transition.”

For more of Hot Press’ interview with Weyes Blood, pick up our next issue in stores on October 31. There, Mering delves further into the themes of Titanic Rising, her past as a noise rocker, her influences (including an Irish legend), what fans can expect from her upcoming show and her life-long dream.