Mermaidens – Mermaidens
(Independent)
Reviewed by Tim Gruar.
Long-term friends and creative audio-visual boundary pushers, Pōneke/Tāmaki Manukau based three-piece Mermaidens – Gussie Larkin (vocals, guitar), Lily West (vocals, bass) and Abe Hollingsworth (drums) – are back with their fourth album. And it’s their best ever (even better-er than 2019’s ‘Look Me In The Eye’, which was a finalist for the prestigious Taite Music Prize).
In the past when a new album was going to be released, all the journos would be rounded up and invited to the Record Company’s offices. They’d sign waivers and non-disclosures before settling down with catered food, cheap liquor, and a hastily photocopied flier with liner notes to listen to a ‘rough cut’ on a BASF tape played over tinny board room speakers.
That was NOT the approach Mermaidens decided to take when they released their own self-titled, self-funded third album. Choosing to step away from their previous label, Flying Nun and go it alone again, they went public by opening a pop-up shop in the heart of the city and invited friends, supporters and fans along via their Instagram channels.
And so, on a balmy Saturday we all crammed into a vacant Elizabeth St premise, decorated by colourful letters and decals, posters promoting songs and a huge 3 metre banner made entirely from re-purposed denim. We perched on borrowed garden furniture and odd-matching chairs and sipped tea or ‘tiny’ beers, ate slices of chocolate flavoured ‘Launch Cake’ and ginger crunch made by Abe‘s mum.
There was a real sense or aroha and joy as we listened to the album on a portable PA system as the afternoon sun streamed in, heads bopped, feet tapped and Abe’s baby gurgled away in the background. The band were relaxed, but obviously a little apprehensive about how it would have been received. Producer Samuel Scott Flynn (Phoenix Foundation) kept a shy low profile, lurking by the door until it was over.
But really, nobody should have been nervous. This album is, from the first crackle of the needle to the final hiss of the carriage return, utterly superb.
Abe and Lily agreed in the opening speeches that Mermaidens have been searching for ‘their sound’. It’s that angular, off kilter psych-pop that has been brewing on their last two releases. Finally, the band has had the confidence to embrace the beast and walk into the sunlight for all to hear. Actually, it’s not one but a combination of ‘beasts’: 90’s die rock influences, a bit punk, a bit 80’s, some twee suburban Americana and a bit of 70’s Brit Prog-rock, too, perhaps.
As Abe explained, this is an album of two sides – a louder, raucous Side ‘A’ and a more brooding, swooning Side ‘B’.
Side ‘A’ has seen not one but four brilliant bangers (‘I Like To Be Alone’, ‘Sour Lips’, ‘Foolish’, ‘Sister’) released out into the world. We’ll get to them, shortly.
Confrontation is a theme never far from Mermaiden’s writing. It’s the vibe in the opening song, ‘Highly Strung’, declaring that: “You think you know me like the back of your hand” but “Manipulation isn’t cut and dry / I didn’t ask for a piece of your mind”. It’s a powerful start, blazing out of the speakers on starters orders. The message is clear: Don’t twist my words against me!
If the APRA people are reading this, then I want to register my nomination for the ‘Silver Scrolls’. ‘I Like to be Alone’, the first single, is clever and super catchy. It’s a great contrast between super sweet pop and the darker and grungy, and with Gussie’s well-placed riffs and Lily and Abe’s delicious backbeat, you just can’t go wrong. Even the lyrics have some nice hooks, starting with lashings of gushy praise “Why Do Stars fall from the Sky why I’m questioning your pride? / With your hand in my back pocket. Keep your hand in your back pocket.” It’s like a quote from those cheesy laminated posters that were once popular, featuring couples on a long beach, disappearing into the sunset with the message ‘Leave Only Footprints’ featured underneath in some dodgy font. It has that vibe.
But then it changes to be stern, a warning that even though it’s unwavering love, there are times we want to be alone. We need ‘me time’. And that’s the bittersweet message for the listener. But it’s all good in the end “No matter what I do, I’ll always come back to you.” It’s a smile of respect and a backoff request in one perfect 3 ½ minute pop package.
Check out the all denim-on-denim themed video for more 70’s love-vibes and lashings of irony courtesy of the band. The final scene of the band playing in a ginormous denim pocket on a hill above what looks like Lyall Bay is totally classic and worth the watch alone.
‘Sour Lips’ is another Silver Scroll contender. Seriously, it’s also amazing. I think I Iove this one even more. It’s faster and more egregious. It’ll fill mosh-pits when the band air it on gnarly our, for sure. It’s got that 70’s garage rock thing going. Maybe not as hard as the D4 but pretty much in that wheelhouse.
Also, the harmonies between Gussie and Lily are so wonderful, that you can’t really tell whose singing which bit. That partnership comes up over and over, making the vocals all over this album really special. The video is another slice of quirky-cool. This time Director Ryan Fielding has brought us to the ‘Merm-E-Mart’ for some hallucinogenic psych-slushies on the forecourt of a local Servo. We meet a bizarre handful of disaffected youths and a strange guru dressed in lurid gym gear. It’s all very crazy. I just hope no actual ‘Spacies’ machines were harmed in the making of this.
Another recent drop, ‘Foolish’ has a 90’s indie/grunge vibe and toys with Old Testament metaphors: “Biting into Apples. Biting into worms. You’re never gonna learn…” Gussie’s guitar is sharp and pointy against the smoothness of the bass and drum undercurrent. It’s a trademark Mermaiden moment.
Channelling bands like Belly or the Lemonheads ‘Sister’ brings back the ‘sour’ theme. The topic is contemplative, but the mood is joyful exuberance. It’s another high energy crowd pleaser. But you do wonder what’s going on. Is it a friend or a relative being addressed? What happened? “Sister, you’ve gone sour, you can’t be happy all the time.”
During the listening party, someone asked about the concept of ‘Dress For Success’, one of the more ‘aggressive’ tracks on this album. “You don’t know what you’re talking about/ Big man with your head in the clouds / Stand up and face it/ What you won’t admit”.
Is this a politician or big corporates being challenged? Was it about looking in control when you really aren’t? Was it a power-suit play? Or something else?
Larkin replied: “What do you think?” We never really got an answer. But that’s what’s cool about Mermaidens lyrics – they are adaptable and malleable to the listeners ears and thinking. “It’s whatever you want,” she replied ever cryptically.
Side ‘B’ turns the power down a few notches, with more of a shoegaze, dreamier mood. Like ‘Push it’ which relies more on sweet harmonies and some delicate synths and a few twisty reverb tricks. Given Samuel Flynn Scott was behind the controllers I wonder if his influence was behind lush 70’s production on this one – a sort of nod to ABBA and co.
‘Comet’ leans even more towards a Phoenix Foundation number. The synth keys at the end are sumptuous and blissful, making this such a charming love song to a celestial entity: “Dripping like melting butter, down your cheek / Superhuman beauty is one of your strengths / But it won’t save us / I can see you up there, bending backwards all for me.”
Then there’s a bit of a kitchen sink drama in ‘Tear It Down’. Trapped and silenced, needing to break out of a relationship. “Afraid to shout, I want to tear it down / Do you feel like yourself, is there something better than this?” The song is layered up with synths and a slow swaggering beat building up to an intense crescendo on the lines “Holding Up, with no arms”.
By the time we get to ‘Greedy Mouth’ we are very far from side ‘A’. This slow 80’s ballad is dripping in vocal washes, gentle guitar notes (courtesy of Jol Mulholland) and delicate layers of synth with twee lyrical references “Moving Slowly as the Moon.” I start to think I’ve accidently put on a Goldenhorse album, as this one shadows their own ‘Golden Dawn’ with its own velvet lush comfort treatment.
The outro, ‘Siren Song’, returns to the noise, able it at a slower pace with the type of shoegaze Slowdive would be jealous of. Blankets of guitar fuzz swirl around and envelope you in a gentle sway-cloud: “Oh, siren song / Send me to sleep / I can’t keep a constant feeling / Feels like a hoax, over my flesh and / I’m sick of waiting, I’m just waking up”.
It, indeed, is the perfect ending to this journey. A journey that began in 2019, after tours and Mermgrown Festivals were delayed, thwarted and tossed about on the stormy seas of plague. And out of that squalling time came this brilliant, incredible, amazing, astounding effort. If you think I’m over-exaggerating about how good this record really is? Then you are right. You can hear the pure joy, the pure listening pleasure. So many catchy tunes and memorable lines, notes and melodies. It deserves playing over and over. It deserves to be thrashed at every party, on every tape deck, on every turntable, at every BBQ, on every road trip this summer.
Production on this record, as noted above belongs to the enlightened choices made by Mermaidens, themselves, long time collaborator Simon Gooding, and sound-maestro Samuel Flynn Scott, with engineering from ‘Dr’ Lee Prebble, of course. Now that’s a dream team right there! Friends like Mike Gibson (master) and engineer Jol Mulholland are also worth having onside, as you can clearly hear throughout.
And so, I raise my tepid cup of milky tea to Mermaidens. No question. For style and variety, joyful energy, Mer-E-Mart vibes and incredible indie-earworms, it’s my pick for Album of the Year. And I’m prepared to stake my own slice of chocolate launch cake on that any day!
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