'Do You Need My Love' Wistfully Time-Travels

“Do You Need My Love” is the second single from singer Weyes Blood’s sophomore album, “Front Row Seat to Earth.” For an artist whose stage name is derived from Flannery O’Connor’s Southern Gothic writing, Blood’s new single, “Do You Need My Love,” hinges on the lyrically abstract, skirting concrete visual images. Instead, these are complicated, intangible feelings, articulated simply: “Tired of feeling so bad / The world that I knew just fell through / And left me outside.”

That feeling of being “left outside” punctuates the whole song. “Do you need me the way I need you?” she croons in a desperate request for reciprocated love, backed by choral vocals, a celestial synth track, moody piano, and syncopated drumbeats. This instrumentation, coupled with Blood’s timeless voice, makes for a retro ’70s vibe that pairs well with a classically lovelorn theme. In a haunting plea for candor, her voice reverberates: “Let’s be true for a change,” she begs. There’s a sense of frustration at the interiority of love, how it’s only expressed internally; love is not chocolates and roses but “the pain of what’s gone.” Excluded from her own love story, Blood becomes intensely confessional in a melodically dissonant bridge: “Everyone who knows me / Knows I'm crazy for loving you, baby / Do you need me like I need you? / Tell me what I can do.”

“Do You Need My Love” is not the newest, infectiously catchy earworm. But if you’re searching for a wistful ballad with time-traveling capacities, Blood’s new single will transport you with six rapturous minutes of ’70s piano and brooding love.