John Cale feat. Weyes Blood – Story of Blood
2022 · Directed by Jethro Waters
2.9K Likes
Best comments
1.“When a vampire starts making music... haha. Very good.”Translated from Spanish
More comments
- 2.“These two scary ladies have a promising future in show business.”
- 3.“In an interview 7 years ago, Natalie literally said, 'It would be dreamy to record with John Cale in a huge church somewhere... I'm drooling just imagining it.'”
The story
John Cale turned 80 in 2022 and marked it by releasing his first album of new songs in a decade. This is a man who trained on viola in Wales, co-founded the Velvet Underground with Lou Reed and has been making strange records ever since. Mercy came out in January 2023 on Double Six/Domino, stacked with younger guests: Animal Collective, Sylvan Esso, Laurel Halo, Tei Shi, Fat White Family and Actress. He finished it before the pandemic, then it sat and waited.
Story of Blood was the first single, and the guest is Weyes Blood (Natalie Mering). Cale had been listening to her latest record and wanted her on it. Once he heard her range, he said, it felt like he'd written the song with her in mind all along, and one passage makes her a dead ringer for Nico. Coming from the guy who produced Nico's records, that compliment carries some weight.
Emmy-winning filmmaker Jethro Waters directed, shot and edited the video. Cale and Mering move through a space bathed in red light, performing rituals nobody explains – pouring liquids, working pigments, handling pearls and silk ribbons – cut against found footage of religious ceremonies. Nearly eight minutes of slow, strange church. Uncut called Mercy the most out-there work Cale had made in a while. At 80. Compared to what most of us will be up to at 80, that's a flex.
