‘Leaving With You’ is a Merpire single that could be inserted into a re-release of Singles without a single purist complaining. Said song by the Naarm/Melbourne-based solo artist (aka Rhiannon Atkinson-Howatt) is a fuzzy, Siamese Dream-era Pumpkins festival singalong about “Living for the thrill / Knowing you might want me still.” Given that approximately 98% of teen comedies have a party scene in which someone is hankering after someone else, Merpire may as well start house hunting in Beverley Hills in advance of all the royalties she’s going to receive.
But before she gets too excited about mixing with A-list neighbours, she has her second album, MILK POOL, to promote. ‘Premonition’ is thematically similar to ‘Leaving With You’ – person pines at a party – but fuzzed-up chords take a back seat and Merpire’s lyrics are centre stage: “There’s a pool in my skin / To show you where you’ve not been.” According to the press release, these lyrics are Merpire’s ‘horniest yet,’ but in the next track ‘Bigger’, she’s on about “fingers in my mouth” and ensuring that hands are “where I can eat them.” ‘Rosanna’ is a smouldering, forensic account of a doomed relationship: “No matter how good we get / I think we’re in trouble.”
Cinammon is a warm and sweet spice, and it’s also a warm and sweet song by Merpire that’s a world away from lairy parties and horny shenanigans. “You took me to the cinema,” she sings on ‘Cinnamon’, and hopefully much, if not all of MILK POOL, will also find its way to the big screen. If Kate Walsh or Bon Iver had written ‘Cinnamon’, it would no doubt be licenced for all manner of fictional café-based moments. ‘fig.8’ is a song title that seems to be a nod to Elliot Smith, and the track wouldn’t be out of place in the indie god’s canon. Likewise, ‘Canine’ is a languid yet catchy banger.
‘Fishing’ starts off a bit Blondie and the chorus is solid grunge with a sprinkle of glam. On the Siamese Dream-befitting, tempo-shifting ‘Retriever’, Merpire speaks for 97% of Gen Z ravers by stating, “I’m nostalgic for a place I’ve never been.” Famously, the internet is a hive of indecency, aborted attempts to be relevant, and cats. Also, famously, the word ‘algorithm’ has as much rhythmical appeal as ‘broccoli’ or ‘slippers’. So, with all that in our cynical minds, it’s a wonder that Merpire has written a song called ‘Internet’ that dodges weary clichés and sounds as playful and yearning as Regina Spektor at her most playful and yearning. Final track ‘You Are Loved’ is as naked as any demo, let alone an Elliot Smith demo. We hear every sliding screech as fingers settle into new formations. We can even hear a van move softly into the distance like the disappearance of hope.
MILK POOL is for the romantics, the daydreamers, and those in search of ‘a second teenagehood’. So, if like me, you enjoy listening to 90s pop rock on your own in your room, get your lonely hands on Merpire’s album. Who needs friends anyway when you have songs like these?
Milk Pool is out 4th July
