Arts & Culture

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

XPN | By Raina Douris,

Miguel Perez

Published March 10, 2023 at 11:04 AM CST

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.

Arts & Culture

Raina Douris

Raina Douris, an award-winning radio personality from Toronto, Ontario, comes to World Cafe from the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation), where she was host and writer for the daily live, national morning program Mornings on CBC Music. She is also involved with Canada's highest music honors: Since 2017, she has hosted the Polaris Music Prize Gala, for which she is also a jury member, and she has also been a jury member for the Juno Awards. Douris has also served as guest host and interviewer for various CBC Music and CBC Radio programs, and red carpet host and interviewer for the Juno Awards and Canadian Country Music Association Awards, as well as a panelist for such renowned CBC programs as Metro Morning, q and CBC News.

See stories by Raina Douris

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.