Unravelling The Patterns As A Jack-Of-All-Tastes

Young Californian-bred musician Natalie Mering has been making music under derivations of the Weyes Blood moniker for nearly a decade now, but despite the '70s folk-tinged vibe of her recent work, her muse was shaped by far more avant forces than one would expect. In her youth Mering spent time playing bass in Portland freak rockers Jackie-O Motherfucker, then toured Europe with Brooklyn experimentalists Axolotl and later collaborated heavily with unorthodox LA rocker Ariel Pink, all these divergent influences eventually seeping into her own baroque vision.

"You're squeezing these massive concepts into these tiny little phrases and you don't want them to be overloaded, but you want them to say as much as they can."

"I do think I was inspired by being able to travel with Jackie-O Motherfucker when I was so young," she admits. "Musically it was just a free improvised band so I learned a lot about getting up on stage and humiliating yourself, as well as about having an amazing time. And I feel like Ariel taught me a lot about writing melodies. He's got this really interesting approach which is like Legos: these little pieces that don't seem very interesting, but then you stack them all together and it's like a masterpiece. It was really fascinating to watch how he worked.

"But I have quite divergent tastes — I pride myself on being a jack-of-all-trades when it comes to taste, like I can get down with anything. I really just like seeing the similarities in everything, kind of like collecting things to see the big overarching patterns."

The brand new Weyes Blood album Front Row Seat To Earth has its own inherent patterns, many manifesting in recurring lyrical themes. "It's kinda about being on the journey of life," Mering reflects, "and along this journey recognising your relationship with the external world and how the world outside is falling apart just like your personal life is kinda falling apart — and how the two are micro and macro mirrors of each other.

"I kind of slave over the words a little bit. Most of the time I try to keep it pretty conversational; I try not to overthink when I'm writing lyrics. Sometimes you gotta just think as hard as you can, because you're squeezing these massive concepts into these tiny little phrases and you don't want them to be overloaded, but you want them to say as much as they can."

And with Sydney Festival and Sugar Mountain gigs prominent on her impending Australian itinerary, Mering is looking forward to honing her festival skills. "I'm still kinda new to festivals honestly, I haven't really played that many so I don't know what to think yet," she smiles. "I'm interested because my banter and whatever I have to say to the audience is usually pretty cryptic and weird – and in the context of a festival that might be really fun. We'll see."