The Bob Seger line was more an in-joke than anything else. From Uncut magazine, which named
Titanic Rising the best album of 2019:
Quote:
How about the musical influences?
I love the period when jazz, classical and folk music coalesced into popular song - songs like "Stardust" by Hoagy Carmichael. They have all the ingredients of a modern song but come with lush arrangements and chord changes that are full of tension. I was also a fan of the deconstructionist music that came in the '60s and later. So it was fun to think about classic styles to talk about these modern issues. We made some funny comparisons - Bob Seger meets Enya!
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Of course, she doesn't sound like "Looking Back" nor "Orinoco Flow". And by the way, her previous albums don't sound like the last one either, even though you certainly feel her presence; it's been a journey.
Oddly, she reminds me of what Matthew Sweet went through in the early '90s; not the style, but the spot-the-influence game: he was Alex Chilton, he was Lindsey Buckingham, he was Neil Young, he was R.E.M. In Natalie Mering's case I've read "Laura Nyro-esque structures" (that one sold me big time), "a Judee Sill for the Netflix age", "late-'70s Joni Mitchell produced by Brian Eno", "Glenn Miller's 'Moonlight Serenade' live from Davy Jones' locker" (to describe "A Lot's Gonna Change" - good one), "Roxy Music's 'Avalon' played on the deck of the Lusitania", Aimee Mann's timbre, and yes, Karen Carpenter, although "
Mering says she doesn't care much about The Carpenters".