For Weyes Blood, gentleness can be a powerful tool against tech-driven apathy

XPN | By Raina Douris,

Miguel Perez

Published March 10, 2023 at 12:04 PM EST

Here's a question for you: Do you think the internet and all of its information and constant social "connection" has made you smarter? Happier? Less lonely?

Maybe you're nodding and saying yes, but chances are your answer to at least one of those was "no." That's something that Weyes Blood has been thinking about a lot. Natalie Mering has been making music as Weyes Blood since she was a teenager, and on her latest album, And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow, she explores and examines the challenges facing humanity: the isolation, the division and the existential threats — but she does it with a remarkable gentleness and warmth. It's a record that acknowledges isolation while urging us to remember what we share.

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Raina Douris

Raina Douris, an award-winning radio personality from Toronto, Ontario, is the host and writer of NPR's daily nationally-syndicated music interview and discovery program World Cafe. She has interviewed artists like Bruce Springsteen, Barbra Streisand, Questlove and Brandi Carlile, and was a 2022 keynote lecturer on the topic of Folk Music and music discovery at the Chautauqua Institution.

Miguel Perez

Miguel Perez is a radio producer for NPR's World Cafe, based out of WXPN in Philadelphia. Before that, he covered arts, music and culture for KERA in Dallas. He reported on everything from the rise of NFTs in the music industry to the enduring significance of gay and lesbian bars to the LGBTQ community in North Texas.