Titanic Rising

Last updated

Titanic Rising
Titanic Rising.jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedApril 5, 2019
Recorded2018–2019
Genre
Length42:22
Label Sub Pop
Producer
Weyes Blood chronology
Front Row Seat to Earth
(2016)
Titanic Rising
(2019)
And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow
(2022)
Singles from Titanic Rising
  1. "Andromeda"
    Released: January 17, 2019
  2. "Everyday"
    Released: February 12, 2019
  3. "Movies"
    Released: March 19, 2019

Titanic Rising is the fourth studio album by American singer-songwriter and musician Weyes Blood, released on April 5, 2019 by Sub Pop. Produced by the artist along with Jonathan Rado, it is influenced by 1970s FM radio. Its lyrical themes address romantic pursuits, climate change, and references to the Titanic .

Contents

The album was preceded by the release of three singles including "Andromeda", released on January 17, 2019, which was included in various year-end lists. "Everyday" and "Movies" were released as the second and third single, respectively. The album received universal acclaim from music critics, with praise going towards its powerful ambience and vulnerable lyrics. It earned the singer her first appearance on the UK Albums Chart, and additionally charted on the U.S. Top Album Sales chart and reached the top 20 in Scotland.

Production

Recording

Following the release of Front Row Seat to Earth , Natalie Mering signed with Sub Pop in 2017. [1] Titanic Rising was recorded in 2018 over a three month period at Sonora Studios in Los Angeles and was produced by Jonathan Rado. [2] The album is named after the RMS Titanic and the 1997 film based on the ship's sinking, which had a profound impact on Mering when she was younger. [2] [3] [4]

Music and lyrics

The album's music pairs inspiration from 1970s FM radio with more expansive sounds, [5] and has been described as soft rock [6] with influences from artists such as Joni Mitchell and the Carpenters, as well as chamber pop and baroque pop. [7] [5]

The opening track "A Lot's Gonna Change", a song that Mering described as setting the overall theme of Titanic Rising, deals with the yearning for a return to the simpler times of childhood, as well as learning how to cope with changes without being bogged down with hopelessness. [8] [4] "Andromeda", inspired by the galaxy and the mythological figure of the same name, deals with finding love in a world of distractions and past disappointments and features a LinnDrum. [9] [10] [11] "Everyday" has an upbeat melody and lyrics about the struggles of online dating. [12] [13] Climate change is also a central theme of the album, with the Titanic used as a metaphor for this. [4] [9] [11]

Mering described the title track, an instrumental, as an interlude between the album's first half, which deals with hope and love, and the second half, which deals with "an existential sub-zone." [14] "Movies" features synth arpeggios in the first half before giving way to strings. [15] [14] Lyrically, the song deals with Mering's disillusionment with movies as a teenager and how she felt they lied to her. [14] [16] "Picture Me Better" is about a friend that committed suicide while Mering was making the album, while the finale track on the album, "Nearer to Thee", is a reference to the alleged final song the band on the RMS Titanic played before the ship sank. [9] [2]

Artwork

The album cover features Mering submerged in an underwater bedroom. The cover was photographed by Brett Stanley in a Long Beach, California pool. Commenting on the cover's meaning, Mering stated that she thought of water as symbolizing the subconscious, and that a bedroom lives in this subconscious space due to its role as "a safe [..] and imaginative space" that shapes people's beliefs and identities. [17]

Release

On January 17, 2019, Weyes Blood released the album's first single, "Andromeda". [18] A second single, "Everyday", was released along with an accompanying self-directed music video on February 12, 2019. [19] The album's third single, "Movies", was released along with an accompanying self-directed music video on March 19, 2019. [14] On May 27, 2020, the "Wild Time" music video was released. [20] The Japanese bonus track, "Titanic Risen", was released in January 2021 exclusively on Roblox 's sinking ship simulator, and on April 4, the track was released on streaming services after the RobloxTitanic room was sunk. [21] [22] [23]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?8.4/10 [24]
Metacritic 91/100 [25]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [5]
The A.V. Club A− [26]
The Independent Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [27]
Mojo Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [28]
NME Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [29]
The Observer Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [30]
Pitchfork 8.5/10 [8]
Q Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [31]
Rolling Stone Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [32]
Uncut 9/10 [33]

Titanic Rising received widespread acclaim from contemporary music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 91 based on 26 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". [25]

AllMusic praised the record, stating that "she underscores enormously orchestrated pop songs with eerie experimental ambience, imagining a dreamworld where Joni Mitchell's late-'70s output was produced by Brian Eno." [5] Quinn Moreland, writing for Pitchfork , described the album as "a grand, sentimental ode to living and loving in the shadow of doom" and "her most ambitious and complex work yet". [8] Dazed Digital stated that, "pairing a rich, 70s soft-rock palette with rippling undercurrents of dread, it already feels like one of the year's best records, and a poignant document on what it feels like to inhabit this particular moment in time." [6]

Year-end lists
PublicationAccoladeRankRef.
AllMusic AllMusic Best of 2019
1
The A.V. Club The 20 Best Albums of 2019
5
Consequence of Sound Top 50 Albums of 2019
26
Dazed The 20 Best Albums of 2019
4
The Guardian The 50 Best Albums of 2019
10
NME The 50 Best Albums of 2019
9
NPR The 25 Best Albums of 2019
14
Paste The 50 Best Albums of 2019
1
Pitchfork The 50 Best Albums of 2019
9
PopMatters The 70 Best Albums of 2019
38
Slant The 25 Best Albums of 2019
18
Stereogum The 50 Best Albums of 2019
17
Treble ZineThe Top 50 Albums of 2019
11
Uproxx The Best Albums of 2019
4
Vice The 100 Best Albums of 2019
20
Decade-end lists
PublicationAccoladeRankRef.
AllMusic AllMusic Best Albums of the 2010s
Pitchfork The 200 Best Albums of the 2010s
143
The A.V. Club The 50 Best Albums of the 2010s
37

Track listing

All tracks are written by Natalie Mering (Weyes Blood)

No.TitleLength
1."A Lot's Gonna Change"4:21
2."Andromeda"4:40
3."Everyday"5:07
4."Something to Believe"4:45
5."Titanic Rising"1:36
6."Movies"5:53
7."Mirror Forever"5:05
8."Wild Time"6:09
9."Picture Me Better"3:41
10."Nearer to Thee"1:05
Total length:42:22
Titanic Rising – Japanese edition (bonus track)
No.TitleLength
11."Titanic Risen"4:25
Total length:46:47

Personnel

Credits adapted from liner notes.

Charts

Chart performance for Titanic Rising
Chart (2019)Peak
position
Australian Digital Albums (ARIA) [52] 37
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) [53] 139
French Albums (SNEP) [54] 113
Scottish Albums (OCC) [55] 20
UK Albums (OCC) [56] 68
US Top Album Sales (Billboard) [57] 34
US Top Alternative Albums (Billboard) [58] 6
US Heatseekers Albums (Billboard) [59] 3

See also

Notes

  1. Except "Mirror Forever", produced by Rado, Mering and Brian D'Addario.

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