Merpire announces new album Milk Pool and shares new single 'Bigger'
Merpire | Photo credit: Rick Clifford
Praise for Merpire
"the fearlessness of her self-exploration and the strength of her resolve combine to give her music a real sense of catharsis and rebirth." - Sunday Times Culture
“the perfect balance between vulnerability and mystery... a beautiful debut album." - CLASH
"A moving and impressive collection of indie pop...a perfect cathartic release" - NME
“Merpire's acrobatic voice makes sure she's in full focus for every second of this song [Dinosaur]” - PAPER
"a genuinely bold, no-strings artist who is clearly true to herself, and brings as much authenticity as she can into her music" - Atwood Magazine
“'Village' is a song that shows Merpire’s ability to translate her vivid feelings through her own idiosyncratic lens and come out with something universally fist-pumping.” - Beats Per Minute
“sharp bursts of gritty energy in the choruses offer a nice dynamic edge” - Euphoria
“[Her] delicate phrasing takes everyday anxieties and turns them into poetry.” - The Forty-Five
Following a launch for recent single 'Premonition' and a "transportive" performance at Brunswick Music Festival, signalling a lauded return for the acclaimed artist & multi-instrumentalist, Naarm/Melbourne's Merpire aka Rhiannon Atkinson-Howatt (she/her) today announces her forthcoming second album MILK POOL (4 July). Fluid and metaphysical as the tides, MILK POOL is for the romantics, the daydreamers, and those moving through intense periods of change - a dark-pop album punctuated by unconventional rhythms and chord choices, provocative guitar, moody synths and vivid imagery, its title representing "the murky fluidity of the action [she] took to create it". The announcement comes alongside new single + self-directed video, 'Bigger': an electrifying ode to those tentative moments before a first kiss, and that beautiful-yet-naïve feeling when it finally happens that your whole world just changed.
Coming to life via collaboration with London-based producer/engineer James Dring (Nilüfer Yanya, Genesis Owusu, Porches) who hand-picked 'Bigger' to work on with Merpire after they connected in 2022 during her first UK shows, the track's giddying peaks and heart-stopping valleys hammer home Merpire's gift for organic dynamism that feels equally alluring and slightly unsettling, with a self-directed video shot on Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country to match. True to its name, 'Bigger's tight 3-min run time builds from a nostalgic cassette sample, heartfelt indie verses and a blush-inducing surf-rock-inspired chorus, ultimately giving way to head-thrashing guitar/synth lines with all the spike, sparkle and spunk of late 00/early 10s alt-pop - also plunging further into sex and desire than the self-admittedly "horniest yet" lyrics found on lead single 'Premonition' which marked Merpire's first official new release in 4 years on Valentine's Day, and her first time writing so openly about these themes. "The most exciting song on the record for me", Merpire says, was written / demo'd before MILK POOL was ever conceptualised, the track's delightfully tense middle 8 penned on a classic double-decker London bus on the way to her only IRL session with Dring: "risky but it worked!" adds Merpire, "I was mesmerised watching [Dring] find and manipulate sounds to add to the song. One of those moments where I felt I was exactly where I was supposed to be. I gave him complete freedom to do whatever he wanted production-wise with the 3 stems I gave him - my vocal, the guitar chords and the main guitar riff, then we went to his studio to finish off the vocals. I was in love with the first thing he sent back. He nailed the dark, sexy, sinister mood. I couldn’t be happier with the result."
'Bigger' is out everywhere now. Listen here and watch the video below.
Pre-save MILK POOL out 4 July here.
Written at a crossroads in Merpire's life where she felt called to make huge changes, its title representing "the murky fluidity of the action [she] took to create it" including stepping away from her achievements as a founder of live music streaming series ISOL-AID during the pandemic - an effort she began to bolster the struggling artist community which featured 146+ artists incl. Angie McMahon, Courtney Bartnett, Sarah Blasko etc - and from interpersonal relationships, MILK POOL was recorded at Melrose Place on Wurundjeri Country with production by Merpire, James Seymour (Pillow Queens, Elizabeth M. Drummond, Jacob Diamond), and contributions via James Dring (Nilüfer Yanya, Genesis Owusu, Porches) and Elizabeth M. Drummond, mixed by Ali Chant (PJ Harvey, Aldous Harding, Perfume Genius). MILK POOL's themes - diving into the unknown, sexuality & pure crush, home in community, putting the final stitches over past traumas, restlessness, rediscovery of self and values - echo Merpire's lived experiences, intentionally written to eddy & swirl in meaning depending on the listener - without ever losing her trademark sense of humour, buoyed by the human connection we share & a deep romanticism for people, places and how they inevitably change over time. Fluid, dynamic and metaphysical - a dark-pop album punctuated by unconventional rhythms and chord choices, provocative guitar, moody synths and vivid imagery: MILK POOL is for the romantics, the daydreamers, and those moving through intense periods of change, featuring instrumentation via Merpire (vocals, acoustic & electric guitar, synths, tambourine), James Seymour (backing vocals, piano, ukulele, electric guitars, bass, programmed drums, synths, percussion), James Dring (electric guitars, bass, drums, beats and percussion), Elizabeth M. Drummond (backing vocals, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, programmed drums, synths, bass), Jess Ellwood (drums) & Jeremy Gara (drums, percussion) - and is the result of an artist reclaiming her body, her joy and her desire.
A self-described "child-like at heart" lover of daydreams, dogs and unconventional songwriting with over 1.2 million streams on Spotify alone, who counts the likes of Angie McMahon among her long-time supporters, Merpire's enthralling lyric-forward dark-pop draws from the familiar and the unknown in equal measures, with a filmic sense of whimsy and grit - sitting somewhere between the off-kilter cult favourites of romance, horror and comedy - underpinned by subtext profound enough to stop you in your tracks. The universe of Merpire - first glimpsed through her Endless Chatter EP (2018), expanded via her debut album Simulation Ride (2021) released via ADA to debut at #8 on the AIR Independent Label Album Charts with praise across her discography including MILK POOL's lead single 'Premonition' from BBC Radio 1’s Jack Saunders’ Future Artists, NPR, La Blogothèque, CLASH, NME, The Sunday Times, The Line of Best Fit, Rolling Stone, frankie magazine, The AU Review, Ramona Magazine, Happy Magazine, The Music, Music Feeds, Tone Deaf, Women In Pop, Backseat Mafia UK, Atwood Magazine US, Steven Ray Morris' See Jurassic Right podcast, triple j, triple j Unearthed, Double J, Triple R, adds at rage, SYN, 2SER, Edge Radio and major metro community radio support including feature album on Double J and SYN (Simulation Ride) and DSP playlisting for 'Premonition' with Spotify's Tapestry, Fresh Finds AUNZ, New Music Friday AUNZ, Apple Music's indie + chill, New in Indie and more - plunges into caverns and depths unexplored with MILK POOL.
With years of experience across the alternative, rock and jazz scenes, Merpire's shows are described as an "emotional rollercoaster" - moving between intimate pop ballads and fully immersive alt-indie heart-shakers, made all the more engaging by her instinctive approach to guitar. Most recently performing a single launch at Naarm's The Tote & Brunswick Music Festival’s 3x-sold-out event At The Altar Of Us with Ruby Gill and Porpoise Spit, an intimate evening celebrating queer storytelling and songs at Brunswick Uniting Church - one of the first churches in so-called Australia to start accepting queer marriage - and supporting Los Bitchos earlier this year, Merpire's mesmeric craft and stage presence has seen her support Julia Jacklin, Angie McMahon, Pillow Queens (IE), Spacey Jane, Hockey Dad, James Bay (UK) and many more, boasting three UK & Ireland tours in as many years featuring a sold-out London headline show, a mammoth 2024 featuring three national tours with Fanning Dempsey National Park, Magic Dirt, Bombay Bicycle Club and more including slots at high-profile festivals like A festival called PANAMA, St. Jerome's Laneway Festival (with RAT!hammock), Woodford Folk Festival, Bass in the Grass, mentorships with Andy Bull, Ainslie Wills and beyond.
Merpire - Milk Pool album tracklisting
1. Leaving With You
2. Premonition
3. Bigger
4. Rosanna
5. Cinnamon
6. fig.8
7. Canine
8. Fishing
9. Retriever
10. Internet
11. You Are Loved
