American artist Natalie Mering didn’t always sing folk music. Back in the day she was into noise rock; she played bass with the kind of heavy bands you see late at night before she re-emerged as Weyes Blood.
Once Natalie got on the mic, we all melted. It’s not just her incredible 70’s pop-folk vocal, but the worlds she takes us into; whether on her breakthrough album Front Row Seat to Earth, or last year’s incredible Titanic Rising. It was after speaking to her about the latter, that I knew I wanted Weyes Blood to Take 5.
A conversation with Natalie is like speaking to a hippie with a PhD. Her connection to myth is articulated just as well as her political feelings on climate change, and her music brain is something else.
From Buffalo Springfield to Suzanne Vega to Joni Mitchell, this is a soaring conversation about what happens when we leap, and fall.
Buffalo Springfield – ‘Expecting to Fly’
Janis Ian – ‘Fly Too High’
Black Tape For a Blue Girl – ‘We Watch Our Sad-Eyed Angel Fall’
Suzanne Vega – ‘When Heroes Go Down’
Joni Mitchell – ‘Amelia’
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Presenter: Zan Rowe
Producers: Sam Wicks & Caitlin Nienaber