Weyes Blood

Multi-instrumentalist Natalie Mering cut her teeth in the world of noise and experimental rock, playing bass in Portland-based freak rock collective Jackie-O M**********r for a time before venturing out solo around 2006. Originally billing herself as Weyes Bhlud, Mering's earliest releases arrived in the form of limited-edition cassettes, a great testing ground for her darkly folky songs that twisted around noisy, electronic undercurrents. Weyes Bhlud embarked on several tours, including a European tour with Brooklyn experimental act Axolotl. Spending some time living in Philadelphia, Mering continued to develop her sound, sometimes playing shows billed as Wiseblood, sometimes joined by a rotating cast of backing players she dubbed the Dark Juices. It was with one incarnation of this backing band that she made her first widely received album, 2011's The Outside Room, released on Not Not Fun Records and attributed to Weyes Blood and the Dark Juices. Among other collaborations, Mering added guest vocals to the 2012 Ariel Pink album Mature Themes and toured with him as well. Ever nomadic, Mering relocated to rural Kentucky for a time to study herbalism, also spending stints living in New Mexico and Baltimore before eventually landing in New York City in 2012. She followed her debut in 2014 with the pristine and autumnal sounds of The Innocents, released on Mexican Summer.