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Titanic Rising

On-line end-of-year 'best-of' lists are occasionally good for something. It was through one such listicle in 2014 that I first became aware of Weyes Blood, aka Natalie Mering. I wasn't quite interested enough at that point to buy her second album, but after I'd heard the featured tracks from its follow-up Front Row Seat to Earth, I reached for my wallet. 'Andromeda', the first song released from album #4, Titanic Rising, likewise motivated me to part with some money.

On first listening to the album as a whole I felt a little disappointed by it, but, on further hearings, I realised that what I'd inititally mistaken as blandness was, in fact, subtlety. It took a few goes around before songs like 'A Lot's Gonna Change' and 'Wild Time' grew on me - with the latter now one of my favourites on the disc. I was a tad surprised when I read in an interview that Mering cited Enya as one of her influences, but, after the fact, I can discern it as an ingredient in the song 'Movies' (along with some Glass-esque arpeggios).

Packaging-wise, the cover images are wonderful, but I don't approve of the decision to affix the artist/title and tracklist as stickers to the outside of the plastic wrap around the CD: I would have preferred that had been printed somewhere on the back or in the gatefold.    

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