Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise: there is always a place for shiny new indie pop like this.
When someone makes it sound as easy as Philippe Lavergne and Thierry Haliniak it’s only because they clearly know what they are doing, or maybe it just comes naturally. There are probably two types of artists, those who use their genuinely felt love of music to create loving facsimiles of the art that moved them in their teens and twenties and then the others who feel the same love but use it as a stepping off point and manage to add the all important extra ingredient, something unique to them.
The former can be fine as a way to pass the time but the latter, well, those are the records you still reach for years down the line.
Opener Nice Guy may have a prosaic title but boy does it set out Meyverlin’s stall perfectly. Escalating from an unassuming strum, we hit the kind of chorus a band such as Close Lobsters would give their eye teeth for.
Multi tracked vocals zero in on that golden C86 feeling, innocence, summer days bleeding into autumn, ecstatic melody taking you to the, non-narcotic, bittersweet bliss we all crave (don’t we?).
Just in case you were still wavering, Meryverlin complete their one-two opening punch and hit you with Dying Love’s elegant cat’s cradle of celestial jangle, all with bonus strategically placed handclaps.
And it continues: Policy powers along propelled by bass that hits post-punk territory, followed by a brief snatch of clipped new wave flavoured guitar.
Gears shift, and Colourblind allows you to catch a breath, as synths sigh around you. It’s a good place to rest up and lick your wounds.
Archangel’s Peter Hook loving opening gives way to a luxurious golden jangle, synths gently filling in the spaces between chords, echoing the lost art of post punk masters such as The Sound, shade but don’t smother…
Reverberating bass leads us into Homesickness, if you’ve ever felt that deep down longing you may wonder why more songs don’t dip into that particular well of inspiration more often.
All too quickly it’s time for Months to take us by the hand and lead us to the exit, heavenly BVs sigh sweetly to the sound of trumpets until all subsides to a gentle music box twinkle, and then, it’s over.
I do dream of a day when artists are freed from recording via file swap and have the budget to lock eyes in a studio. Yes, I know, I’m just a crazy dreamer.
It’s not a criticism as such just a general observation. As it is Meyverlin use the tools at their command with deft skill and have quietly and modestly given us one of the albums of the year.
My advice? Dive in.
Daily Events releases October 15, 2021
