“Shattered Mirror” (by Weyes Blood)

"...the “Shattered Mirror”/”Liquor Castle” 7-inch. “Shattered Mirror” marks an interesting development in the Weyes Bluhd catalogue. Not as pretty as some of the earliest ballads (which, as far as I know, have never been released), not as deranged as some of the material on Strange Chalices of Seeing, the track is a true balancing act of influences. I hear an acknowledgment of pop classics in the drumbeat, that classic Jesus and Mary Chain-by-way-of-The Ronettes stomp. But in typical Weyes Bluhd fashion, the familiar element is refracted through a prism of mystery. The result is a beat without a snare, the drum’s familiar pop replaced by a ringing, bell-like sonority in some parts and a blood-curdling, trebly scrape in others. Even the pretty vocal melody is made more severe by an undercurrent of surrealistic spoken-word (“time is like a mirror, counting the days and eyes”). This sound certainly supports the closest thing to a musical manifesto I ever got from Mering: “I want to play an ancient song, but through the sonic elements of tape collage and electronics, accidental sounds that rejuvenate the melodic archetype while also thrusting it into the future.”

The element of poetry is brought to the forefront in “Liquor Castle,” which begins with a long feedback-fu*ked moan and continues through a hailstorm of harmonics guitar (a large board zither that isolates string timbre into individual harmonics, invented by NY-godhead and guitar-orchestra pioneer Glenn Branca) and occasionally decipherable words. I can’t pretend to know what’s happening in the language-scape—which is probably more than half the point—but it has its moments of weird narrative clarity (“they asked me why I was drinking from up there, that’s what they use to wash their floors up there”). Weyes Bluhd has carved out a truly unique soundworld with these tracks. The closest reference point that I can think of is UK-underground stalwarts The Shadow Ring, whose wordsmith Graham Lambkin has performed alongside Mering and made an obvious impression on her musical vocabulary.

If these tracks are any indication, Weyes Bluhd’s forthcoming LP will be a strong marriage of her across-the-spectrum influences, from straightforward songwriting to confusing noise of otherworldy timbre. As much as the Blood in Natalie Mering’s moniker suggests love, longing and connection, it also signals violence of the psychedelic cult-horror variety. You may not want to die listening to this music, but you may not have a choice."

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