Jeff Merchant

Download These: Jeff Merchant

If Nick Cave had been from California, this is what he'd sound like. Even though his voice is less menacing than Cave's, Merchant's complex haunting tales, with added strings, are just as powerful. "Li'l Miss Riding Hood" is only the beginning. - ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: PopWatch

From Jeff Merchant's CD "window rolled down"

Jeff Merchant, Landlord Song Taking a solo turn from his work with LA-based group the Lullabies, Merchant makes shitty landlords and hipster roommates sound somehow entrancing in this lush, quirky three-minute ode to LAs Echo Park. - Boston Phoenix

Those who are tired of waiting for something to be released from the Donovan camp can rest easy. Jeff Merchant's "Window Rolled Down" will satisfy those cravings nicely. His songs are amazingly complex with intrinsic orchestrations and beautiful vocal arrangements. The harmonies are catchy as are the song structures, each of which is as unique as the last. You may have heard him in his cult-fave psychedelic rock outfit the Lullabies but if not this is a perfect introduction to his brand of multi-instrumental indie pop that would fit Brian Wilson - indeed some of the members of Wilson's band contribute on the album. Excellent eclectic folk pop. - smother.net

Review by William Ruhlmann

In "(Don't Look So) Distressed," the lyric of which gives Jeff Merchant's debut solo album its title, Window Rolled Down, the song's narrator is accosted by a motorcyclist at a stoplight who remonstrates with him for his hangdog look. "See, I've got these broken bones, but I keep riding," the motorcyclist says. "It'll get better." "I could've rolled up my window," the singer points out, but he didn't. One of the myths about the car culture that is Los Angeles is that all those rolling cubicles cut the citizens off from each other. But Merchant's L.A. is an interactive community in which complete strangers buck each other up. He backs that world view with his musical approach, a chamber pop style that mixes his acoustic guitar with warm classical instruments such as cello, French horn, and recorder on melodic, mid-tempo tunes that he tops with his pleasant, ingenuous tenor. The overall sound is reminiscent of some of Richard Barone's recordings of the late '80s and early '90s. But lest things get too chummy and childlike, the lyrics have recurrent dark tones. After all, the singer attracts the motorcyclist's attention because he looks so distressed, and he isn't the only one in these songs who has problems. A frequent concern is housing. In "Landlord Song," the narrator's living space has some real drawbacks: "Walls came down, roof fell in," he sings. "Called the landlord. He didn't come in." In "Eviction (There's a Place)," the landlord does turn up, but only to take away the keys. And even if one is not alone in L.A., company isn't necessarily much help. "You Can't Save Me," Merchant declares in one song. Still, he struggles for a positive outlook, concluding in another, "Wounds Will Heal." This is the Los Angeles of Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia, and Window Rolled Down would make a good alternative soundtrack to Aimee Mann's song score for that 1999 film. - All Music Guide

(This one's from Lee Zimmerman of Entertainment News in Florida)

Jeff Merchant's new album provides a dizzying mix of melody, textures and conceptual design; such a broad mix, in fact, that even a generous sixteen songs can't seem to contain it all.

While he's enlisted some impressive collaborators - members of Brian Wilson's amazingly adept back-up band, the irrepressible Stew and up-and-comers Listing Ship lend their talents and expertise - it's Merchant's ability to turn a phrase and take his tunes into unexpected realms that makes Window Rolled Down both a challenge and a triumph. The songs meander along with an easy lilt, buoyed by lush, billowy arrangements thick with atmosphere and effervescence. That said, the dense ambiance sometimes tends to obscure the melodies and cloud subject matter that might otherwise tip the proceedings towards weightier terrain. Nevertheless, after soaking up the pretty, wistful sigh of "All Of The Times" or reveling in the stirring strains of "Wounds Will Heal," it quickly becomes apparent that Merchant's a master when it comes to crafting lofty tunes with instant appeal - entnews

by Lance Looper

Window Rolled Down is a pleasant surprise, and seems to me a change of direction for Jeff Merchant. Ethereal and, even happy, this record sounds great like background music for Oompa Loompas. But I like it, craved it even. The ultra sing-songy lyrics were less haunting than probably intended and instead bore into my head and repeated themselves over and over. Good or bad, that's pretty much my benchmark for whether a record is good or not. This record is catchy and will stay with you long after you turn it off. - High Bias

Monday April 17, 2006
Filed under: Reviews, Music, Downloads
Matt @ 11:18 am

LA singer/songwriter Jeff Merchant has been in several different bands over the years, most notably The Lullabies, but maybe a career as a solo artist is where he'll best make a mark. His solo LP, window rolled down is a dense, interesting album, employing diverse instruments that actually keeps you interested track after track. The notion of singer/songwriter usually conjures up visions of some guy with a guitar, a bass player, and a drummer churning out the same old same old. But Merchant goes the distance, utilizing the Upright Bass, Viola, French Horn, Flugelhorn, Trumpet, Cello, Vibraphone, Sax, Flute and so on and so on. Merchant's vocals provide a nice complement to the music. His voice reminds me of Ben Gibbard from Death Cab, but that's me. This was the first album in some time that I received from an artist that I played multiple times by choice, as opposed to a need to dig in enough to be able to write about it.

My favorite song on the album is Lil Miss Riding Hood, a haunting song that really gives you a good idea of what Merchant's music is all about. For fans of music with depth and purpose, give Jeff Merchant a listen. - The BM Rant Blog

Here are a few MP3s I received links to from L.A. based song-writer Jeff Merchant who is a member of the band The Lullabies. These relaxing orchestral indie folk sound scapes are from Jeffs new solo CD Windows Rolled Down. The title of which comes from the lyrics of the haunting track (Don't Look So) Distressed.

posted by Ant at 9:37 AM - Saturday, May 06, 2006 - Wiam Blogspot

College/Art Rock: Jeff Merchant's Window Rolled Down

My college roommate used to make me listen to all of these independent artists that he liked - or at least, he liked them because they were independent. I appreciated how he championed indie artists, but so many of them didnt have a sense of melody - as far as I could hear. This was the early 90s, and for a little while, thats what I thought indie meant: DIY (do it yourself) recordings of songs with no real melodic or tonal awareness.

That, of course, wasnt completely true, but in the current indie movement led by posterboy Sufjan Stevens, melody is king of this independent collective of artistic freedom. Stevens, Paul Brill, Meredith Bragg, Listing Ship, and others are making indie rock that is folky, orchestral, experimental, jazz-influenced, multi-multi instrumental, and above all else, melodic.

Add Jeff Merchant to this indie movement. Member of Lullabies, Merchant has released his solo project, Window Rolled Down, which includes help from members of Listing Ship. Tracks like "On Sidewalks & Backyards" have a Stevens-like arrangement (without banjo but with bells, recorder, and french horn). Merchants voice even has the tenderness of Stevens' singing, although Merchant also sing-speaks at other times reminiscent of Spearmint, Kimberley Rew, or Robyn Hitchcock.

Throw in some funk FX guitar on "Guy" or soul organ on "Who's Driving On" and youve got the multi-multi instrumentation plus an ability to layer the indie rock with hints of so much of the music spectrum. Merchant earns a place among those artists who keep musical expression, experimentalism, and artistry alive like modern day troubadours - traveling, writing, discovering, incorporating, and ultimately, introducing us to sounds from outside our insular little villages.

© 2006 Benjamin C. Squires
http://www.musicspectrum.org/ - Music Spectrum

Thursday, June 08, 2006

When I decided to start a blog, I made a deal with myself to always post songs by unsigned or unknown, struggling musicians. Well, Im somewhat happy to say that I cant do that anymore. I must receive ten submissions a week, and theres simply no way to listen to all of them. Sometimes it takes me months to get to listen once to a CD, let alone two or three times, which is what I prefer to do before I post.

But there are rewards. One of which is Jeff Merchant. I never would have found him if I hadnt posted on Listing Ship, which someone read and then sent me Jeffs CD. He plays with members of The Lullabies, Brian Wilsons band, and, you guessed it, Listing Ship.
For the most part, the disk features slow to midtempo, brooding music with truly beautiful guitar work and contemplative lyrics that seem dark and sad but at the same time gentle and bittersweet. Its an album to have on while having a lakeside picnic, music for a rainy afternoon indoors, and songs for smooth port and fancy crackers...A solid solo singer-songwriter album.
posted by Ekko @ 9:28 PM - Berkeley Place Blogspot