Merz

"Merz sounds like nobody else in the world and the world would be alright if it listened to nobody else. We absolutely love him"
Chris Martin, Coldplay


Folk / Electronica / Alternative

Bristol, United Kingdom

WEB

MySpace

Further press (Groenland Records)


Cast your mind back to the year 1999, to a world on the brink of a new millennium. A time when dance music was still at large, Apple and iPod were still conspiring in the wings for global domination and now ubiquitous artists such as David Gray were still broke. Joss Stone wasn't even a teenager! In the thick of all this, you may remember a singer / songwriter / multi-instrumentalist by the name of Merz.

Following the self-released 7 inch single championed by the likes of Jarvis Cocker and called “Many Weathers Apart”, a fierce battle for his signature by several major record labels, Conrad Lambert aka Merz signed to Sony/Epic and looked set to conquer the world. His debut album received widespread critical acclaim and led to appearances on Top Of The Pops, Jools Holland, and was subject to a Channel 4 music documentary. Huge support and Single of the Week also came from Radio 1’s Jo Whiley and an appearance at Glastonbury, featuring on the same bill as a group called Coldplay, who later became firm friends. His music was embraced by the then unreconstructed genre that was English folk, electronica and the fringes of dance (Pete Tong was a fan of some particularly tasty Francois K mixes) and would even be heard on soaps like Eastenders and Coronation Street.

Since his considerable splash in 1999, Merz has apparently disappeared without a trace. But six years later, he is well and truly back with a dazzling album, Loveheart. Elaborating on his early pastoral influences, the album features an astonishing range of delicate instrumentation, and crucially, is illuminated by brilliant arrangements, Loveheart is the work of a gifted and passionate songwriter with a rare musical talent.

Naturally, the first question is – what happened?

Despite a glittering entree to the pop music world, major label shenanigans ensued, leading Conrad down an unexpected road. “For any musician to walk away from a record deal goes against all your inherent instincts," he admits, "so it was a tough decision but absolutely the right one.”

Conrad worked on songs for his next album in Bath. “I worked hard for those years, but had a very unsettled life which made it difficult to complete a coherent album of songs.” Writing turned into a fraught, all-consuming process, and eventually he moved back to a small flat in Yorkshire to continue working towards Loveheart.

He found himself signing back on the dole in his hometown of Huddersfield. “That was very difficult, even more so as I signed on back where I grew up, which felt like going right back to square one on the Snakes and Ladders board.” The anguish of “Mentor”, where Conrad cries out for some kind of guidance – “be my mentor, won’t you influence the things I do / Step down here, be my mentor, I want your influence, I do” – comes from as raw and honest a place as has ever been committed to song.
Living a solitary life in the moors took its toll, inspiring moments of elegiac melancholia that emerge on the mellifluous piano-led album opener, “Postcard From A Dark Star”, where Conrad’s yearning, husky voice aches for “contact, my only wish is contact, my only dream is contact”.

Recorded on location in an empty 17th century parsonage, the sense of lonely isolation is palpable on the haunting “My Name Is Sad And At Sea”, where bells from distant ghost ships toll eerily in the background.

“It was gargantuan effort,” Conrad admits. “The hardest thing of all was getting up in the morning.” But slowly the record began to take shape, modelled by late night drives to and from Yorkshire. “The album is heavily influenced by the Late Junction show on Radio 3 and the John Peel show on Radio 1," Conrad smiles. "I used to write and record in Yorkshire but drive to Bath in between sessions to visit my girlfriend. I’d always drive at night on a weekday so I could listen to those shows. They had such a wide spectrum of music and it was all about discovery. It was great to switch from one show to the other, I’d kind of amalgamate both shows to make my ideal radio show."

Indeed, times were not all so bleak. Conrad married his long-time American girlfriend Jess in Mongolia, where his parents have lived for some fourteen years, and where Jess had also spent a year as an editor on a local English newspaper. Conrad found himself blossoming with ravishing songs like the intoxicated dance-on-air of "Dangerous Heady Love Scheme" and infatuated delirium of “Butterfly”. The enveloping intimacy of "Warm Cigarette Room" where “everything’s how it’s supposed to be” pointed the way out of the maze.

Loveheart was co-produced with Bruno Ellingham (respected engineer on recent albums by New Order, KT Tunstall and The Departure and emerging British producer of note). "He was like an Oxford professor," Conrad says, "I would come to him with my demos and recordings and he would give me detailed notes to go away and work on." Recorded in 12 different locations around Bath, Bristol and The Pennines, and finally finished on St Valentine’s Day 2005, West Country mates including Goldfrapp bass player Charlie Jones and Portishead / Beth Gibbons / Robert Plant accomplice John Baggot also lent a hand on harpsichord, while Norway’s Even Johansen (aka Magnet) contributed lap steel guitar.

Rich in distinctive instrumentation (including Wurlitzer piano, ukelele, mandolin, Hammond Organ, harmonica, Native American bass drum as well as drum machines, synths and numerous electric and acoustic guitars), but never overcooked, Loveheart draws from experiences of intense emotions with a deft and tender touch, displaying a breathtaking way with melody. Warm, and infused with rising hope even at bleak times there are moments of pure joy. The album grows more addictive with each listen.
“If there is a theme to this album, it’s really about finding the strength of heart to get through ropey times in life. I feel like I was led into a forest and have only just re-emerged. I’ve got my sense of direction back and am just going to carry on down that track.”

With the release of Loveheart there is little doubt he is back on the right track and heading towards the bright lights once again.

Discografia:

-Anterior --aquí.

-Último trabajo "Moi Et Mon Camion"

01. moi er mon camion
02. call me
03. shun
04. malcolm
05. silver moon ladders
06. presume too much
07. lucky man
08. cover me
09. no bells left to chime
10. the first and last waltz

Videos:

-Verify



-Postcards from a Dark Star