Mercurine
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Mercurine

Hollywood, California, United States

Hollywood, California, United States
Band Alternative EDM

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"All Music Guide (www.allmusic.com)"

AMG REVIEW: Mercurine's debut EP is kind of like an electronica-fused Nine Inch Nails. The work is good, solid, and enjoyable. Mera Roberts' vocals are rough and at times freshly unrefined, which goes excellently with her and her collaborator, Byron Brown's production. There are parts of this recording that sound quite a bit like the work of later Jesus & Mary Chain as well as Sisters of Mercy, but above it all Mercurine's self-titled EP is original, albeit derivative. This recording brings into focus the work of two excellently crafty artists who are working hard to create an original and fresh recording. The pieces that comprise this recording are quite dark and even morbid in places, but pretty good all and all. If you enjoy the work of Nine Inch Nails' more ballad-oriented, slower, and darker work, and have some interest in the Jesus & Mary Chain or Sisters of Mercy, then you'll certainly enjoy this recording. — Matt Borghi - Matt Borghi


"Starvox Music Zine (www.starvox.net)"

Mercurine (4 song demo)

Many of you may remember Mera Roberts as the cello player on Faith and the Muse's Blackout AD Tour. That's where I saw saw her first. She's also made appearances with (but not limited to) Cassandra Complex, black tape for a blue girl and Ministry before relocating to Los Angeles in 2000. Branching out on her own alongside Byron Brown (Superfiends, Kommunity FK, and the New Ambassadors of Love) they've created this promo EP while working on their full length CD. I happened to run into them at a New Year's party in Long Beach and was more then delighted when she happened to have an extra copy with her.

With Mercurine, Mera doesn't play strings at all (which I admit I was a bit disappointed in because I do love strings) but takes the spotlight instead to sing. Her voice shimmers somewhere between Switchblade Symphony, Kate Bush and Monica Richards yet doesn't try to duplicate them. There is all at once an innocent air yet coy, determined strength in her presentation. Their webpage says when forming this project Mera "envisioned a new band that would combine elements of New Order, Curve, My Bloody Valentine and harder-edged electronic influences." And musically, despite my general dislike for electronic percussion, it's done so well here that it doesn't bother me at all and does, to a certain degree, accomplish her goals. The electronics are used wisely and creatively, careful to avoid the repetitive traps of synthpop and smart enough to put in bright electronic pulses in just the right places. If you're going to use a drum machine, this is a good way to do it. Overall the songs are lush and textured -- upbeat, danceable and dreamy at the same time. While it seems to me that there are hints at a Faith & the Muse's influence in places, particularly on track one, they manage to bring something fresh and new to the table.

"Will Morning Come" is an obvious hit -- a memorable melody with a good danceable beat. Mera's sometimes delicate voice is tempered against distorted guitars and haunting synth lines. Track 2, "Gone Too Far," starts with a melodic bass line and almost elfin-like vocals and percussion that becomes more dominate as the song goes along.

Track 3, "Walking West," is the heaviest electronic-driven song. There's lots of sparkling synth lines contrasted with more gritty guitar playing while track 4, "Nameless" is an instrumental focusing on atmospheric guitars. Dreamy and vast it calls to mind early U2. It is a gorgeous composition.

And finally track 5 was not listed so I assume its a hidden track (or a misprint/accident?). There's cello-like bass lines, synths running counter melody and vocals that are whispered and echoing.

All of the four named songs are available on their well organized website for free so take a few moments to check them out. This is definitely the beginning of a wonderful new music project with a wealth of talent to propel them onward.

Tracks:
1. Will Morning Come
2. Gone Too Far
3. Walking West
4. Nameless

www.mercurine.com

- Blu


"Gothic Paradise (www.gothicparadise.com)"

CD Review: Mercurine "Music Is Chemical"

I'll begin this review by just saying that it has been well worth the wait for this debut album. They've had a few teaser tracks up on mp3.com for a while, and so I was dying to hear the rest of the album.

Needless to say I've been very pleased that they've stuck with the style in these introductory tracks.

The catchy mix of guitars, electronics and ethereal female vocals are present from the very start in the moving opening track "Walking West". The guitars and excellent bassline ebb and flow while layered synths add extra body and texture to the music while Mera's layered vocals flow throughout. The bass, synths and vocals all kick in for an excellent intro to the catchy track "ShakyShakee Bells". Set the shoegazer guitars aside and this track along with a few others is what really reminds me of Book of Love. Even the silly title is fitting. Of course the real track that really takes you back to the popular days of 80's New Wave music is "Nu Wave Fairy" with the little of light punk/wave sounds that were so fun back in the day. They bring this style alive with a fresh sound and feeling in this track for everyone to enjoy.

Of course for those that are more into the darker, moodier gothic/shoegazer/ethereal sounds, there is plenty more here. Tracks like the dark and melancholic track "Gone Too Far" is perfect for these fans. Beginning slow and building up with light synths, bass and of course building to a climax with excellent guitars and soaring vocals. "Will Morning Come" is one of the best tracks that is really catchy on this album. It quickly became my favorite teaser tracks and so have really enjoyed listening to it over and over again long before the album came out. Now that I have an entire album of great material to choose from though, It's hard to really choose a favorite.

If you really want to get into the ethereal moods, "Drifting" and "Pact" are the songs that will really take you a way on that dreamy voyage fans will love. "Drifting" is such a fitting title, because I think it fits the style, lyrics and music to perfection.

And finally, if you like some experimental or a little more noise in your music, there are some pieces here for everyone. "Bridgeburner" is the edgiest track with harsher elements in it. Experimental is the way I would describe several of the tracks at the end. They almost appear as "space filler" for the CD, but good enough and interesting enough to be enjoyable to listen to the entire album, including the hidden track at the end.

Overall a great album, and excellent for a debut. I hope this means there is more to come in the future of at least this quality or better!

Rating: 4.5/5

- Jacob Bogedahl


"Underground Press (www.undergroundpress.co.za)"

CD Review: Mercurine "Waiting For Another Fall"

With a musical blend of New-Wave, ethereal Rock, Synth and Electronics, Mercurine captivates the senses in a dreamy and fragile emotional state. The duo of Mera Roberts and Byron Brown entwine mesmerizing female vocals with melodic guitar, luscious electronics, rich synth and emotional lyrics, like a subtle midnight wish for first rays of dawn. Released in 2005.
- Morticia Devine


"Synthpop.net: Your synthpop resource on the web"

CD Review: Mercurine "Waiting For Another Fall"

This is Mercurine's second album, following the 2003 debut album "Music Is Chemical", again released on the band's own label Heads on Sticks. This second album finds Mercurine taking on a more atmospheric, moody sound and combining it with their signature sound to create a fascinating 30 minute sonic experience.

"The Wish" starts the album out in excellent form, with a moody isolated vocal and synth line that slowly builds the song in a tense manner that builds into a subdued, but highly effective manner that is very hard to put into words... but it just is amazing to experience. "Bluemouse" has a certain menace to the whispered vocals that the almost casual music in the background only serves to emphasize and amplify. "Nu Groove" probably gets the most noisy of the tracks here, but still is more of a moody soundscape than a out-and-out rock song. "Strangetimeslove" is the other true highlight of the album, a epic New Wave/synthpop hybrid that includes a very, very catchy synth core and a very New Order-esque chorus that gets glued into my head very easily. The moody cello driven instrumental "Another Ending" that closes out the album somehow seems very fitting.. as if the change awaited in the metaphor in the title is still awaited, but drawing ever nearer. Quite cool.

In summary, Mercurine have really delivered a excellent second album here. Polished, professional and very emotive, this is a album not to be missed!


Reviewer: Jason Baker
Score: 5 stars
Related web link: www.mercurine.com
Language: eng - Jason Baker


"Starvox Music Zine (www.starvox.net)"

Mercurine
Waiting For Another Fall
~reviewed by Jyri Glynn

Waiting For Another Fall is the second full length release by the duo, Mera Roberts and Byron Brown. Brown also contributed his musical talents to such acts as Kommunity FK and SuperFiends, while Roberts is probably best known for being the cellist in both Black Tape for a Blue Girl and Faith and the Muse. She has also made countless live and studio appearances with such acts as Ministry, Pigface, Cassandra Complex and the Last Dance.

Musically, I would have to compare the overall sound of Mercurine to some of the late eighties/early nineties bands such as the Cocteau twins, Lush, Opus 3 and Poe. At times Mera’s whispery vocals even remind me of Kate Bush, yet this is not to say that she doesn’t skillfully demonstrate a modern and distinct style of her own. With much of her past acclaim being contributed to her extraordinary cello talents, I was impressed to see her diversify by vocally fronting a project of her own. This being said, I do feel a bit more cello throughout the album would not have done the band any harm and may possibly have given this album an edge to its over-populated electronic genre. Fortunately, Mercurine’s final track, “Another Ending” does feature this rare cello commodity, leaving the listener breathless.

Another of my favorite tracks on the album is “Bluemouse,” where Byron’s guitar work is skillfully underscored with electronic textures and whispery vocals. The gentle swaying of Mera’s vocals on “Format HD” blend with the tranquil synths and guitars, once again revealing how well the duo works together. With tracks like, “Nu Groove” and “StrangeTimesLove,” the band reiterates my analogy between Mercurine and their clear tribute to, and influences from, sounds of the past.

Having never heard Mercurine’s first full album, Music is Chemical, I was unable to draw a comparison to their previous release. However, I found Waiting For Another Fall to be a strong and beautifully crafted album which features multi-textual electronic content, lovely airy vocals and melodic guitar riffs.

http://www.mercurine.com/ - Jyri Glynn


"Setting Sun"

Mercurine (Album Review)

Album Review

Mercurine –
"Waiting For Another Fall"
(Heads on Sticks)

To say this album came as a bit of a surprise is a bit of a understatement.

As regular visitors to "Setting Sun" will notice I interviewed Merurine orginally back in 2003 in relation to their "Music is Chemical" album which for a better word was a great mixture of almost Depeche Mode meets Evanscence, so when I put the new CD into my CD player I was expecting perhaps something similar.

....... Which couldn't be further away from the truth here

While on the new album, the synths are still in place, here they are much, much darker (aside from the first track “The Wish and the finale “Another Ending” – both of which seem like a prelude and a ending to the album and the darkness that exists in the middle off it) and backed up nicely by a increased use of live drumming, which allows Bryon and Mera to play around with distorted keyboards and Mera's vocals which on the first album sung almost like an angel, which now used to completely different effect and be it for a better word now sounds like more than the devil whispering, speaking and singing sometimes in the same breathe.

Take for example the second track “Bluemouse” – there is a real edge in this track that is far removed from the first album “Music is Chemical” and kind of reminds me of Curve in the way Toni Halliday from Curve sings vocals that are sometimes mixed low enough to make you listen to over and over to grasp the full meaning.

Used over and over on most of the tracks in the album, it gives you the sound much more of a album recorded pretty well recorded live (which is interesting as I know the band have certainly been playing more and more gigs since the 1st album) and a band that shows a band that is growing more and more comfortable with the technology they are using and not waiting for another fall…

Good stuff… - Andy N.


"Grave Concerns E-Zine (Underground Music Resource)"

Artist: Mercurine
CD Title: Waiting For Another Fall
Label: Heads On Sticks
Reviewer: Matthew Johnson
Date; 3/6/05

Mercurine seem to have really found their sound. While their first release was an excellent collection of songs that ranged from gothic to synthpop to new wave, their newest effort is their first to truly sound like an album, blending experimental and ambient elements with a more conventional pop sensibility. While the progressive electronics and effects-laden guitar of tracks like “The Wish” and “StrangeTimesLove” call to mind such moody cult favorites as Curve and the Cure, it’s the weirder, more abstract elements that make this disk so brilliant.

Programmer and vocalist Mera Roberts sings wistfully over guitarist Byron Brown’s undulating melodies on “Sunlightgreyskies,” while the shoegaze-influenced instrumental “Copper Rain” recalls the brilliant art-pop of such acts as His Name Is Alive. It’s “Bluemouse” that really defines this album, though. Both heavenly and eerie, the song features Roberts murmuring in soft echoes over ethereal electronics and Brown’s meandering guitars. Given its history – the song was inspired by Roberts’ near-fatal car accident last year – such lyrics as “You run in circles like your back is broken” are all the more chilling delivered in a ghostly whisper.

The only possible complaint with this album is that there’s not enough of it; with nine tracks, it clocks in at just over a half hour. It’s a half hour of near perfection, however, emotionally involving and musically mature, showing a band that’s really come into its own. Appealing particularly to those of us who remember the golden age of 4AD Records, Mercurine is required listening for all fans of the blissful and melancholy.

Visit Mera and Byron online at www.mercurine.com. - Matthew Johnson


"Nemesis To Go - Mercurine in review"

Mercurine have a rather wonderful band name - it hints at a certain fluidity, tough and tender, a ballsy femininity. They also have one of the most clunky song titles I've ever seen, in the ghastly 'Nu Groove', a phrase which sounds like a marketing man's attempt to make bland jazz-funk interesting. Fortunately, Mercurine don't play bland jazz-funk. They create serpentine, circling rhythms over which flurries of guitar pile up and disperse, here building into head-high drifts, there scattering in a commotion, while the vocals of Mera Roberts stalk through the musical landscape with a serenity that nevertheless hints at a firm-handed control. It's splendid, sweeping stuff, paradoxically demonstrated to greatest effect on the ridiculously named 'Nu Groove'. Once you're past the horror of the title, the song unfolds into a swirling epic that combines a soaring melody and a vocal that rises to touch the very underside of heaven, while still anchored to earth with low-down bass-ganks worthy of Dave Allen's finest moments in the mighty Shriekback. Mercurine's ability to combine the soft and the hard, the fluid and the solid, the etheral and visceral, is their trump card and secret superpower. If you require further evidence, lend an ear to the psychedelic nursery rhyme of 'Sunlightgreyskies' (nope, I don't know why three words have been run into one there, either) upon which Mera Roberts' vocal is layered and treated over plangent sweeps of guitar. Get a load of 'StrangeTimesLove' (and I don't know why it's written like that, either - Mercurine really do need to fix this song title thing) which employs a drum machine beat, shameless in its stark nakedness, as a counterpoint to a lush, ever-ascending mistral of a song. Drums kick in, and it all kicks off, the band throwing everything into the arrangement but still somewhow retaining a sense of airy space. In a way, Mercurine sound like the Cocteau Twins would've done, had they ever decided to crank it and go for it, but then their excursions into the ether - as on the waft and weft of 'Another Ending' - are just as effective. At times, Mercurine are genuinely catch-your-breath impressive. They just need to sort out the baffling way they have with their song titles.
- Uncle Nemesis - http://www.nemesis.to/records.htm


Discography

Waiting For Another Fall (c) 2005 - Full length self-release.

"Bluemouse" aired on 103.1FM Los Angeles, "check one...two" with Mark Sovel

Music Is Chemical (c) 2003 - Full length self-release.

Mercurine EP (c) 2002 - Self-released demo.

Tracks are available on http://www.mercurine.com

Photos

Bio

Mercurine is Mera Roberts and Byron Brown, a powerhouse duo whose music is at once modern yet reflective of post punk and new wave.

The Mercurine sound is the shimmer of guitars through a synthesized current of melody and pulse, bound together with feminine vocal polarities from fragile to fierce.

Based in Los Angeles, Mercurine are well known on the West Coast for their live performances. The duo is rounded out with a drummer and bassist to enhance their unique brand of synth-rock and deliver it to an audience in a constantly variable and animated style.

Mercurine toured across the USA in 2006 and 2007, performed at the prestigious Whitby Gothic Weekend (UK) in 2008, and are now back in the studio.