WEYES BLOOD

WEYES BLOOD/SAM BURTON AT THE ROUNDHOUSE, CAMDEN – 8/2/23

With everyone watching my every move for signs of a kind of burgeoning madness, it’s nice to get away for the evening, back to London where the boundaries of “normal” are wider, where there’s less space to move, but more room to be yourself. Stuck in traffic on the Westway I take photos of people left alone in buildings, buildings which seem like vast reservoirs of empty space in the heart of the city.

Left alone

Spot the person

WEYES BLOOD fans are younger, more attractive and more female than your average fans. And more enthusiastic too. Even though I arrive at THE ROUNDHOUSE ten minutes before the doors open there are still several rows of them between me and the stage. I put my earphones in and listen to the latest mix of the album I've been making. It sounds great. It’s nice to listen to it here in this cavernous space. I look around at all the pretty young faces and wonder what they would make of it. Probably not a lot, I have to admit.

SAM BURTON makes comfortable music for comfortable people. Not in a bad way. It’s just not challenging anyone, or making anyone uncomfortable in any way. But that’s OK, I suppose. I don’t know where I got this idea from that art should be challenging or make you feel uncomfortable. That’s certainly not how “normal” people view art. Normal people don’t use art to challenge themselves or make themselves feel uncomfortable. In fact, quite the opposite. The Weyes Blood fans listen respectfully and attentively, apart from one girl near the front who spends the first few songs talking so loudly that she can be clearly heard above the music, and seems completely unaware of her surroundings. I marvel at her confidence and lack of self-awareness, and wonder if maybe that’s what confidence is, a lack of self-awareness. It reminds me of these lines from a story called Women and Women by Izumi Suzuki that I read this morning:

There were things in this life she didn’t have a clue about. But it’s precisely because they don’t know about the dreadful stuff that ignorant people are able to be so confident.

I’m not trying to say the girl is ignorant, just that she seems to lack self-awareness in this situation, which is what reminded me of the lines. The backing singer, Hayley something or other (I didn’t catch the surname) takes over the main vocals for one song and gets a much much bigger cheer and round of applause than Burton gets after any of his songs, and it’s hard not to feel a little bit bad for him. It’s actually the only vaguely uncomfortable moment of the entire evening, though I’m pretty sure it’s only me and Burton who actually feel the discomfort, though probably he doesn’t either, so maybe it’s just me. He doesn’t say anything to the audience, beyond introducing the band and saying thanks at the end. Maybe he’s shy, I think, or maybe he just doesn’t have much to say. That was mean, wasn’t it? Oh well. Whatever. Never mind.

Comfortable

There’s a couple behind me, a man and a woman. The man is talking about starting some sort of organic, vegetarian food business, and the woman talks about this kind of art tunnel that she wants to make. The man thinks it sounds like a great idea.

WEYES BLOOD makes beautiful music for anxious people. In fact, it seems almost lugubrious at times, something that Natalie Mering seems aware of when she acknowledges that there’s “too much fog” on the stage. “No more fog,” she says. “It’s apocalyptic enough already.” And it really is.

"Apocalyptic enough"

She sings about “people hurting” and everyone being afraid, and between songs talks about how we’re living in “dark times”. The only person who can provide some clarity, apparently, is Adam Curtis, who provides some characteristic visuals for God Turn Me Into a Flower. 

Some clarity

But, I’m afraid, it just doesn’t ring true to me this evening. I mean, sure, social media is terrible, and it’s hard choosing something to watch on N______ sometimes, but for the kind of affluent Westerners lucky enough to be at The Roundhouse tonight, these are not dark times. It's entirely possible that human beings have never led such comfortable lives. I think that’s why we’re so anxious and afraid. Because we’ve got nothing else to occupy our minds, and anxiety just fills the void. We’re underused. So, I don’t know, I love Weyes Blood, but it all just seems a bit hollow this evening. It’s almost certainly just me though. The girl next to me is having some sort of religious experience. When they play Movies she screams and holds her head in her hands, like some sort of miracle is being performed, which I suppose it is, in a way. Of course it's just me. I’m not anxious enough maybe. Or maybe I’m too cynical, or too tired, or crazy, or just too damn comfortable.

Got everything I need