I’ll cut right to the chase here: Weyes Blood has a truly beautiful voice. Her arrangement on this track is also to be praised, avoiding the all-too-common trap of erudite dissonance vs. reactionary ear-candy, showing an aptitude for simple/direct, but creative/interesting melodic structures that allow her voice to showcase itself to maximum effect, those vocals quite rightly taking center stage
If you’re really insistent on not just clicking the link and listening to the damn thing (which, it goes without saying, you should), I’ll do my best to describe it further: Not out of place in a choir with Josephine Foster, maybe Antony — and I’ll give a reluctant Christina Carter comparison — but really Weyes Blood’s voice is distinct from those, or any.
I saw her perform a few years ago with an acoustic guitar, and while it was good, the piano here really makes sense. I’m not sure to what extent she wrote the piano music (would love to know more about the process here) but in any case the foundation for the song rests on a hazy/warbling piano that glides up and down some scales/fifths/octaves (think Ragtime Laraaji, which I totally mean as a compliment) while making itself clear, again, that the piano is the foundation on which the vocal element can really shine.
From her upcoming album, The Innocents comes out on Mexican Summer on October 21.
• Weyes Blood: http://weyesblood.bandcamp.com
• Mexican Summer: http://www.mexicansummer.com
More about: Some Winters
