Some of the best music comes from artists being brave enough to mix and match existing sounds and forge new music in the liminal spaces where two or more sounds or styles meet. It’s what all artists should do; it’s what all artists must do, and it is the only way that music moves on. Fail to sow such sonic seeds in the musical landscape, and what will we have left? Music that sounds like what has gone before. Artists resting on their laurels. Plagarism and plunder. And a world of tribute bands. No, thank you.
But when I suggest that bands merge and meld and mix and match music to their own creative ends, I didn’t expect Mercvrial to fit so much into their melting pot. It seems that every time I peel away a layer of their latest single, “Glittering Oblivion,” it reveals a whole new sound and style. This is a song with a complex DNA makeup—complex, yes, but so rewarding.
Across little more than three minutes, they lay out a shimmering indie stall, cover it with lush harmonies and ebb and flow with pop infectiousness, but the sort of pop that was the precursor to Brit-pop, which might not mean much to them, given that they are based in Mexico (hmmm) but then probably does given their close connection to House of Love’s Terry Bickers. It is the more accessible end of shoegaze, an echo of indie music’s formative years before bands such as Oasis stole the label, reappropriated it to their own ends and demeaned the label altogether.
Mercvrial exists at a point where drifting, dream-state music meets understated indie, between pastoral-paisley-patterned pop and a slightly harder place, where ambient soundscaping is formed into gentle melodies. It is where I want to go and live, but at least, thanks to Mercvial’s songs, I can visit from time to time.
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