You May Also Like
Sponsored
By subscribing for updates, you agree to the Mighty Ape Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy and to receiving marketing communications from Mighty Ape. Remember, you can unsubscribe at any time.
Sold by Mighty Ape
On his new album Infinite Youth, Merk examines the blurry line between adolescence and adulthood, and all the clarity and mess that accompanies that blurring. This is a record that thrives on a certain simplicity of lyric, melody and rhythm, and is compelled by contrast: pop songs influenced by art music, an album about adulthood that reflects heavily on what it is to be young, and a sonic world that is both expansive and deeply intimate.
Merk is the solo project of New Zealand songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Mark Perkins, which began when Perkins recorded 2016’s Swordfish (Winner of The Taite Music Prize Auckland Live Best Independent Debut). His debut album showcased a knack for melody, based around guitars strummed to catchy perfection. While Swordfish introduced many of the qualities that Merk continues to cultivate, it’s on Infinite Youth that he comes fully into his own.
“In the past it felt like I was hiding, but now I’m trying to wear my heart on my sleeve a little more,” Perkins muses. He has an understated, commanding presence, a playful intensity, as well as an ability to simply let go. Lyrically, this album treads a line between earnest, vulnerable, and knowingly tongue in cheek: songs that began in irony mutated into sincerity, and vice versa.
The chorus of lead single H.N.Y.B., in which Merk wishes a lover a Happy New Year, is deceptively simple, but is at once an expression of love, an acknowledgement of a new beginning, and a nod to the fact that this particular new beginning happens every year.
This feeling, of a simplicity that opens up into a great depth, is refracted through every aspect of Infinite Youth: sonically, it was essential that this album leave behind the guitars that Perkins had strummed incessantly while touring the world as a member of Fazerdaze and Tom Lark, in favour of a palette that captures space and time in its immensity and intimacy.
Merk credits Danish producer and key collaborator Johan Carøe with opening up Infinite Youth’s space: “He was so good at seeing where I was hiding”.
An album that will capture you on first listen and then reward your every repetition, Infinite Youth reintroduces Merk and invites you, warmly, into his orbit.
We are committed to protecting your rights under the Consumer Guarantees Act and working with our suppliers to assist with warranty claims. Products sold by Mighty Ape will be covered by a Manufacturer's Warranty for at least a one-year period from the date of purchase.
Your warranty will cover any manufacturing defects which, if existing, will present themselves within this warranty period.
Your warranty will not cover normal wear and tear, faults caused by misuse, and accidents which cause damage or theft caused after delivery. Using the product in a way it is not designed for will void your warranty.
Please refer to our Help Centre for more information.
