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Mercy Arms 'Mercy Arms'

Posted in Music by domalessio on Aug 26, 01:00PM

Mercy Arms
Mercy Arms
Independent

It’s easy to talk about the Mercy Arms image and forget about their music. Their penchant for elaborate fashions and a reel of constantly changing press photos has overshadowed music that failed to deliver on the promises we were spun. For a while it seemed that the Sydney quartet were to be condemned to a similar fate bestowed upon many of their fellow harbourside-dwelling brethren like The Lost Valentinos, Ghostwood and Van She, all of who were flailing in a sea of exaggerated hype.

Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise that the silver spoon fell from the mouth of the Mercy Arms. Once signed to a multi-million dollar deal with Capitol, label reshuffling and the general shrinking of the industry claimed the band as a victim, and their record deal fell by the wayside. With no one to help them, the Mercy Arms opted to go it independently, enlisting the help of the drug-addled, producer du jour of Australia post punk Tony Cohen to aid them in bringing their self-titled debut to fruition.

There’s nothing pretty about the Mercy Arms’ electric, self-titled offering. From Kirin J. Callinan’s trilled leads that slice like a rusty shiv through the reverb-drenched opener ‘Down Here, Too Long’ to Julian Sudek’s thunderous drums on ‘Speed’, nothing is overly polished in a mix that defies modern conventions. But that’s not to say that Mercy Arms isn’t a beautiful album. The songwriting skill evident on ‘Half Right’ and ‘Kilby’, a subtle ode to The Church, is evidence of the foundations that the Mercy Arms’ reputation has been built on.

Callinan is an antipodean Johnny Marr in Patrick Wolf’s clothing, while Thom Moors plays the part of Morrissey, a poetic and self-assured frontman. The Smiths are but one reference point of Mercy Arms, an album that owes as much to Cohen’s Eighties alumni as it does to one of the greatest ever exponents of reverb, My Bloody Valentine.

Housing only ten tracks, Mercy Arms demonstrates a band with a clear and concise vision. If there was ever a record to take the focus off Callinan’s flamboyant outfits, this would be it.

Dom Alessio