Tijd voor een ingetogen moment, moeten die van mercury gedacht hebben. De nieuwe single is daarom niet minder 'zwaar' dan beide voorgaande singles. WYWMTS zorgt voor een beklemmend gevoel en kruipt diep onder de huid. Het gaat allemaal nochtans best rustig van start: akoestisch gitaartje + de smachtende stem van Maddie Kerr. Geleidelijk aan neemt alles aan intensiteit toe richting een louterende uitbarsting aan emoties. Weinig muzikanten komen ermee weg om zo goed als een hele song te breien rond één zin tekst. Ik hoorde het Ray Lamontagne al doen en ik kan me inbeelden dat Eddie Vedder met gemak hetzelfde flikt. Trouwens, over meneer Vedder gesproken, ik hoor hem deze song met eenzelfde feel zingen. Net als Swarm The Hive Mind past ook dit liedje perfect in een Pearl Jam catalogus. Om maar even aan te geven hoe straf deze band uit Nashville is, wat een sterke songwriter juffrouw Kerr is.
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“I wrote this song when I was in a really bad headspace,” says mercury's Maddie Kerr. “I was hurting extra because it felt like there were people who wanted me to stay there forever. This was simply a linear thought and emotion I needed to get out and something I wanted to say so badly, and it came out in the form of this song.”
Upon its premiere last month, “Swarm The Hive Mind” was named one of Rolling Stone's “Songs You Need To Know” and added to an avalanche of playlists, including New Music Friday and the cover of New Noise on Spotify. Recorded with sought-after indie rock producer Alex Farrar (MJ Lenderman, Snail Mail), “What You Want Me To Say” and “Swarm The Hive Mind” find mercury evolving the sound she captured on her recent EP Together We Are One, You And I. A three-track project comprised of “Born in Early May,” “Special,” and “Crick,” the EP is an experimental voyage of grief, pain, and loss, oscillating between grunge and iridescent indie rock as it wanders through the depths of human suffering and emerge resilient. Infinite black voids, spiritual iconography, and the scarlet glow of embers and flames define the EP's ambitious companion short film, following a cast of characters from different walks of life through narrative vignettes, contemporary dance, and poetic abstractions.
mercury has made serious noise since the release of a pair of singles in “Trying” and “Woolgathering” late last year, with attention pouring in from the likes of Nylon, Paste Magazine, Rolling Stone, Office Magazine, Brooklyn Vegan, FLOOD Magazine, Under The Radar, Billboard, Northern Transmissions, and FLOODFM and placements across numerous Spotify & Apple playlists. For mercury – born Maddie Kerr – 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.
