In the middle of March 2016, over a week-long musical residency in the desert, two weird planets went conjunct. Both bore a bright colour palette: Ariel Rosenberg (aka Ariel Pink), an underground icon known for his stylized, subversive pop, and Natalie Mering (aka Weyes Blood), bold bringer of a future cosmic folk realm. Under the mystic lights of Marfa, Texas, they composed and captured the EP, Myths 002. As West Coast singer-songwriters with a shared sensibility for mood, Natalie and Ariel have been collaborating artists, mutual admirers, and friends for years. Mering appeared as guest vocalist on Pink’s 2013 album Mature Themes, Pink produced the infectious Drugdealer song “Suddenly” featuring Mering. Mering’s third album, Front Row Seat To Earth, was released in October 2016 on Mexican Summer. Pink’s first album for the label is set for “sometime 2017.”
The atmosphere and auras of these two pop artists assemble as new hues on Myths 002, their distinct voices inexplicably, effortlessly folding into harmony. The four songs capture musicians at play — speak-talking dramatic interludes, twisting up songs strangely before releasing them assuredly in New Romantic resolves. During the annual Marfa Myths festival, Mexican Summer and Ballroom Marfa brought these two musicians together for the second in a record series that promotes collaboration between artists within the label crew and kindred musical spirits from outside the catalogue. Marfa is small town known for its remote desert locale in Texas, its arts community, and its strange heavenly lights.