Onder de titel Together We Are One, You and I en gebundeld d.m.v. een kortfilm laat dit adembenemende project rond Maddie Kerr zomaar even drie nieuwe nummers op ons los.
Ik schrok me een hoedje toen ik het eerste deel, Born In May hoorde: deze song leunt héél sterk aan bij het geluid van Big | Brave: loodzware, slepende, experimentele doom/sludge die als een mokerslag op je inbeukt en waarbij de zang door merg en been snijdt. Special gaat dan meer richting de single Trying uit: een donkere, weemoedige vibe die wat bij indie rock, zelfs grunge, aanleunt. Crick sluit het drieluik af, aanvankelijk iets luchtiger in indierockstijl tot de cirkel rond is wanneer naar de finale toe heavy gitaren opnieuw een doom/grunge feel oproepen.
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mercury – the Franklin, Tennessee-based project architected by Maddie Kerr – has debuted “Together We Are One, You And I.” Recorded in Asheville, NC with producer Alex Farrar (Wednesday, Snail Mail, Indigo de Souza), the new three-track collection premieres (...) alongside an ambitious extended short film directed by Harrison Shook.
The trio of new songs, titled “Born in Early May,” “Special,” and “Crick,” float between sludgy grunge and iridescent indie rock as they wander through the depths of human suffering and emerge resilient. Infinite black voids, spiritual iconography, and the scarlet glow of embers and flames define the visual companion to the music, following Kerr and a cast of characters from different walks of life through narrative vignettes, contemporary dance, and poetic abstractions.
For mercury, songwriting is a form of survival, a means of finding clarity in an often cruel world. It's everything Kerr has known dating back to the day 22 years ago when Mazzy Star's “Fade Into You” blasted as she was born.
“Together We Are One, You And I” was born from another kind of place; a uniquely difficult period of personal hardship. “It was the first time in a while I've allowed myself to put my emotions into words and to tell myself that it's okay, I'm allowed to be hurt,” says Kerr of “Born in Early May,” the pummeling opening track that served as a breakthrough for her, the beginning of chipping through an emotional block.
The second song of the three, “Special,” opens with a scene of surrender: “Removed my clothes/The color left my face/Lowered my body into the water.” Nature and elemental wonder are recurring motifs for Kerr, resonating deeply throughout the bones of mercury's previous singles “Woolgathering” and “Trying.” In “Special,” Kerr once again finds solace in underwater depths. “When I think about being in a dark place mentally, it feels like I'm suspended in the deepest part of the ocean with nothing around me.” In this peaceful purgatory, far from other people, Kerr nurses her wounds and admits a universal human desire atop sparse ambiance: “I wanna be something to you/I wanna be special too.”
If “Born in Early May” looks outward, “Crick” directs its gaze inward for the finale of “Together We Are One, You And I.” “When I was writing 'Crick' I was angry at myself for not being able to say what I meant in moments where I really needed to,” Kerr says. “I was angry at other people for not giving me the opportunity to speak, but part of that was because I had waited too long to get my own words together.” Mounted with towers of guitars, the song hurtles toward a tremendously thrashy conclusion to the project: a reminder that noise can convey an inner chaos beyond words.
