"You don't know me because I don't know myself," sings Merryn Jeann in the first line of her self-titled debut album, foreshadowing the collection of critically thinking, self-reflective songs to come. The opening song, 'Am I Plastic?', breaks down and questions existence, a heavy subject juxtaposed with the minimalistic accompaniment of acoustic guitar. It flows seamlessly into 'Canopy', the most recent single from the album, which drifts effortlessly back and forth between English and French.
She continues the dream like aura created 'Canopy' in 'Dragons', a mainly instrumental piece with slightly more tension and suspense, which ends up being the soundtrack to the fairy-tale like, fantasy scene playing out in my imagination. 'See Saw' features the ever-satisfying, impossibly tight harmonies provided by the boys from Parcels (school friends and former bandmates of Merryn).
The opening song breaks down and questions existence, a heavy subject juxtaposed with the minimalistic accompaniment of acoustic guitar.
As we past the halfway point of the album, 'Home' poses the idea of home being a place rather than a person,"You are my home when I'm away from home / You are my home when I don't know where to go", followed by 'Floating Away', where the piano melody sounds like it could have come straight out of the Call Me By Your Name soundtrack. The existential theme of the continues through until the end of 'Out of the City - To Find Air'.
"We are born and we die / life is a gift in the meantime."
What makes an album powerful is when it is a continuous cycle of songs surrounding a central theme. Merryn Jeann nails this with her exploration into existence and the world, while setting the heavy motif against a background of minimalistic and airy instrumentation. Her voice is well balanced throughout, soft but strong when it needs to be, which fits perfectly with what she sings about. Although short, it's an incredible debut from the Australian (now based in Paris) singer-songwriter. I've been listening to her music for years now and cannot wait for more.