• Record Label: Sub Pop
  • Release Date: Apr 5, 2019
Metascore
91

Universal acclaim - based on 26 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 26 out of 26
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 26
  3. Negative: 0 out of 26
Buy Now
Buy on
  1. The Wire
    Jun 20, 2019
    90
    In emotional terms Titanic Rising is immense – names like Annette Peacock, Linda Perhacs and Judee Sill come to mind, but only because it feels like so long since you’ve heard pop this epic yet unmannered. ... With tracks like the stunning “Something To Believe” lodging themselves into your heart with the sure knowledge that your relationship with this music will only deepen as the year unfolds. [Jul 2019, p.52]
  2. May 8, 2019
    90
    Titanic Rising is even more accomplished than putting Mering’s state of grace to music; with her 70s-inflected approach to songwriting, she succeeds in nothing less than recalibrating time.
  3. Apr 30, 2019
    100
    A strong contender for album of the year. ... Titanic Rising is remarkable for its breadth, effortlessly shifting from the 90-second ambient wash of the title track to Picture Me Better’s homespun take on the cosmic cowboyisms of Kacey Musgraves. Then there are Merings’ lyrics, evincing a similar shift in scale and scope.
  4. Apr 16, 2019
    80
    To genuinely appreciate this album, you need to sit with it and let it wash over you.
  5. Apr 11, 2019
    80
    Titanic Rising is a leap forward for the self-described “nostalgic futurist,” yet Mering’s core musical gifts remain intact. Her voice holds you like a steady flashlight beam in a meadow fog.
  6. Q Magazine
    Apr 10, 2019
    80
    Beautiful stuff. [Jun 2019, p.116]
  7. Apr 8, 2019
    90
    Despite Mering's sonic flights of fancy, Titanic Rising is a lean, 40-minute recording that carefully considers her performative sentiments with fine craftsmanship. No emotions go astray.
  8. Apr 8, 2019
    80
    Titanic Rising presents an immensely elegant journey to a different place and time; in equal parts beautifully delicate and powerful.
  9. Apr 8, 2019
    90
    It’s big, ambitious and beautiful, by far the best record Weyes Blood has made and also happens to be one of the best records of the year.
  10. Apr 8, 2019
    85
    An ambitious, varied and ardently rewarding listen, Titanic Rising is pop music for ages and worlds far beyond our own, and an emphatic show of prowess from one who is sure to be one of indie’s new radiant lights.
  11. 80
    Ultimately, it is Titanic Rising’s fusion of ancient and contemporary, 70s singer-songwriter tropes and electronic burbles, that convinces; the beauty Weyes Blood offers has its eyes wide open.
  12. Apr 5, 2019
    90
    Titanic Rising is a new peak for a rapidly maturing and utterly distinctive artist.
  13. Apr 5, 2019
    80
    It’s a strangely addictive mix, comfort-food nostalgia that telegraphs knowingness without sarcasm, parody or airquotes.
  14. Apr 5, 2019
    91
    Rado’s opulent production gives the experience of listening to Titanic Rising—particularly on headphones—the feeling of being enveloped in sound, insulated from the outside world like an astronaut looking down at the earth through layers of atmosphere. The lyrics on Titanic Rising certainly contribute to the album’s daydream quality.
  15. Apr 5, 2019
    85
    Building on the psychedelic chamber-folk of 2016’s Front Row Seat to Earth, these convictions push the 30-year-old songwriter towards her most ambitious and complex work yet.
  16. Apr 4, 2019
    90
    While all of Weyes Blood's albums leading up to Titanic Rising were good, even great, there's something that sets this one apart. Fantastic songs, meticulously detailed production, and a certain, hard-to-name spark of connection all gel into the near-perfect statement that every part of Mering's strange journey before this led up to.
  17. This is a beautiful album, informed as much her bold experimental music as by her golden age pop forebears. The record ends where it began, but Natalie Mering continues to push tirelessly and boldly ahead.
  18. 100
    Titanic Rising isn’t Bob Seger meets Enya. It’s better.
  19. Apr 4, 2019
    80
    Titanic Rising harnesses convention and refashions it into something singular. At once a document of this “wild time to be alive” and an escape from it, it’s often remarkably good.
  20. Apr 3, 2019
    91
    Titanic Rising doesn’t feel blissfully adrift. Instead, it feels like Mering knows exactly where she’s going.
  21. Apr 2, 2019
    80
    Titanic Rising may draw inspiration from the past, but it's ultimately a clear-eyed look at love, catastrophe and hope that's perfect for the present moment.
  22. 80
    Mixing warm, New Age-suggestive electronic tones with conversational, heart-to-heart lyrics meant to stick on first listen, her work floats through space with a glistening, emotionally rich shimmer.
  23. Mojo
    Apr 1, 2019
    100
    Titanic Rising is a revelation. These opulent, sculptural songs have sacrificed none of Mering's idiosyncrasy, or ability to unnerve. [May 2019, p.87]
  24. Uncut
    Apr 1, 2019
    90
    Tightly structured, lavishly orchestrated, brilliantly realised. [May 2019, p.18]
  25. 95
    Titanic Rising is a new thing, her own stamp on the world. Like all the best musicians and songwriters before her, she’s plumbed the depths of her imagination and brought forth a masterpiece from the depths.
  26. Apr 1, 2019
    85
    On Weyes Blood's radiant and beautifully anachronistic fourth studio album, Titanic Rising, Natalie Mering achieves a perfectly balanced synthesis between the old and familiar and the new and unexplored.
User Score
9.0

Universal acclaim- based on 474 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Negative: 23 out of 474
  1. Apr 5, 2019
    10
    Yeah this is definitely my favorite pop (more like psychedelic pop) album I've heard since 2017 Melodrama. That's all I can say. Weyes Blood (Yeah this is definitely my favorite pop (more like psychedelic pop) album I've heard since 2017 Melodrama. That's all I can say. Weyes Blood ( btw that's such a cool name) is spot on when it comes to transporting a person to heaven using her music . Heavenly Bliss is what it is and I'm not exaggerating. It makes everything else I've heard from other dream-pop/ and psych-pop artists seem a little recycled. Movies is probably the last song i'll listen to before I die. **** Terrific!!!!!!!!!!!! Full Review »
  2. Jun 8, 2019
    9
    Was intended to give the album a 7, but then listened a bunch more times simultaneously to realize that Titanic Rising is worth more thanWas intended to give the album a 7, but then listened a bunch more times simultaneously to realize that Titanic Rising is worth more than that. It took two months, but it's rewarding.

    The first 4 tracks aren't really connected that'll make you confused, where will Weyes Blood take you from here? But then comes the title track, which eventually brings you to Movies (my best favorite track on the album). The rest of them are following. With the closing Nearer to Thee, it actually carries you to the beginning, hence make them as a whole.
    Full Review »
  3. Apr 5, 2019
    10
    Sublime orchestration and Natalie's voice layerings make this a complete cinematic experience.