HEY YOU! MERPIRE
We caught up with Naarm/Melbourne-based artist Merpire about her new record ‘MILK POOL’
HEY Merpire, how are you feeling about the upcoming release of your next album MILK POOL?
Hi! I have mixed feelings to be honest. I’ve learnt so much about myself and what I want out of a career in music as well as life in general during the release of this album. In this day and age it feels like a luxury to take your time with a creative project. More than ever, I’m in awe of music and how a song created to work through something or in response to something can change from listen to listen depending on where you’re at in life. I’m really, really excited for people to hear the songs that aren’t the singles. The songs that are from a deeper, darker space in the Merpire world. Some of these songs are huge in feeling and production and others are only one instrument and my voice, a voice memo. I’m just so ready to find out how these songs resonate with others after holding them so close for so long.
Tell us a bit about how the title came about, and the meaning behind it?
So I have a giant list of dream band names in notes on my phone. I’ve made some fast friends by sharing this list with others. Mallrat and I bonded backstage at a festival over our dream band name lists. We found out quickly we have very similar humour and a shared love of onomatopoeia. MILK POOL is from that list.
As seems to happen with my creative pursuits, I don’t often realise there’s something more intentional or deeper to what I’m drawn to until further down the track. So the more I had this title hanging around in front of me, I realised the imagery of being in a pool of milk is like the process of writing, recording, releasing an album - you just have to wade into the unknown and trust yourself as you try to navigate one foot in front of the other with no obvious path. It’s also an ode to one of my favourite Simpsons episodes. That balance of serious meaning and something quick and silly is so me.
What's it like making music in Naarm/Melbourne at the moment? Who are some other local artists who inspire you?
It’s pretty fucking amazing and heart-breaking at the same time. The talent in Naarm is forever-blooming. The heartbreak is what we continue to be up against - cost of living, government pulling funding from grants, the way we carry the state of the world on our hearts so heavily, the lack of respect from our society/economy.
Despite all of this, we’re stronger together. Awe-inspiring music is being made in response. We find a way. We do it together. We share tips, coffees, stages, bands, gear, couches, contacts, social media shoutouts. Oh man, there are so many talented people. It’s pretty incredible. I hope somebody writes a reflective novel about them all one day.
Elizabeth M. Drummond, Public Figures, Fan Girl, Planet:Pain, Garage Sale, Mallrat, World’s Best Neighbours, Juice Webster, Armlock, Mika James, Darcy Forever to name a few.
Being a woman in music can be challenging at best - what advice would you give to young girls picking up their instruments for the first time? Or even, what advice would you give a younger version of yourself?
I love this question. I started playing guitar in high school so that people would think I’m hot and cool. That used to be the great motivator for anything. My advice - I would say find another person who, like you, has big dreams to make music and connect with the world. Egg each other on, hype each other up, back each other up. Play loud. Take up space. Make crazy sounds. Laugh together. Cry together. If you love it, do it. Trust each other’s guts. People will be drawn to this. Like-minded people. Play and share with them too. Keep growing your community because they’re the most important thing. A community of people with strength in knowing who they are and what they care about is a force to be reckoned with.
Any boys or anyone at all for that matter who tries to shut you down or drown you out? Play louder, take up space until you can’t hear them anymore. You deserve to be heard. Oh god, just writing this is choking me up!
It's been a few years since your debut album Simulation Ride was released, how do you think you've changed as an artist during this time and what differences can listeners expect to hear?
In the years following Simulation Ride, I’ve collected many experiences, challenges, profound moments and pulled moments from the past into the present to write into songs that zoom in even closer on the moment itself. I do this by focusing on physical and mental responses - smells, feelings, moments that seem mundane but poetic when written down.
I’ve been bolder and more confident in voicing production ideas. The beauty of having worked with James Seymour on my previous record means we have this trust between us and a language we use to find quirky sounds for the songs we produced together.
I also wanted to express more of the darker and sexier side of me. The songs, ‘Bigger’, ‘Rosanna’, ‘Premonition’ I wrote for the side of me that’s drawn to fantasising about self-destruction in music. I’m almost hypnotically drawn to songs that sound creepy, sinister, stalking and dark. As someone that didn’t feel safe in my body growing up, this album is a chance to reclaim desire for desire and sexiness for myself. Through these darker songs I hope to form a deeper connection with listeners. Writing music that feels like a safe, controlled darkness is a space for me and the listeners to confess or share indirectly while connecting.
The closer, ‘You Are Loved’ is an untouched voice memo. It’s sacred to me because I remember so clearly not feeling loved when I recorded it. Though I no longer feel that way, I think it’s important to share that in hope of others feeling less alone in its loneliness.
What's next for Merpire? Where can people follow you?
What’s next is playing MILK POOL with my band, curating an exquisite live show to share with audiences. What’s next is seeing ways in which songs off the album exist in different ways with different people.
You can follow me on the usual places online. I would say I’m mostly on Instagram and I write back to every message there. You can sign up to my mailing list for more intimate musings, news before anyone else, pre-sales. Every now and then when the mood strikes, you can see the more unhinged side of me on TikTok.
