25 February 2021 - 0 Comments

Today it can be revealed that Tamaki-Makaurau based artist, multi-instrumentalist and producer Merk will release his sophomore album Infinite Youth on April 9 2021, available to pre-order now via digital, CD, LP and various merch bundles. Also just announced, Merk will be playing SXSW Digital in March after his plans to play there in 2020 were disrupted by Covid-19. Stay up to date with forthcoming set times at merkcoolsongs.com.

Cementing himself as one of Aotearoa’s finest indie artists, Infinite Youth features recent singles H.N.Y.B and GOD, the latter receiving spins on BBC Radio 6, plus a Day In The Life feature on SPIN. Infinite Youth is an exciting new chapter for Merk as he finds himself pushing new creative boundaries.

To coincide with the announce and premiered on Clash Merk today releases the wholesome single/video Laps Around The Sun; the third single from Infinite Youth. Shot on his birthday (featuring his real birthday cake!), and made with a cast of friends, the video follows Merk around his home of Auckland whilst celebrating and contemplating his birthday, another ‘lap around the sun’.

“This song is about finding poetry in the mundane, repetitiveness of life. It was written on my birthday, which is also Valentine's Day. I was struggling with the existential dread that can come on your birthday, you know, that lovely internal dialogue that goes “everything is meaningless and so am I” sorta thing. This is a reflection on the idea that, sure, maybe everything is equally meaningless but doesn’t that also mean everything is just as meaningful as the next thing? Which is kinda cool. A jellybean or Jupiter matter just the same. Whether you are waiting for the weekend or celebrating another lap around the sun, or falling in and out of love or doing the dishes there’s beauty to be found in the never-ending repetitions and rhythms of life.

By sheer coincidence we ended up filming the video on my birthday too, so it was natural for it to become about that. We made it very guerrilla style with a small crew of friends, it felt super wholesome and very meta.”

A full 11 tracks, Infinite Youth examines the blurry line between adolescence and adulthood, and all the clarity and mess that comes with it. This is a record that thrives on a certain simplicity of rhythm, melody, and lyric, and is compelled by contrast: pop songs influenced by art music, an album about adulthood that reflects heavily on what it is to be young, and a sonic world that is both expansive and deeply intimate.

Co-produced with Danish producer Johan Carøe, Infinite Youth is a step into space and intimacy for Merk. The guitar work he had become renowned for in Tom Lark and Fazerdaze have been left behind on Infinite Youth. Instead, we hear iPhone recordings, synths, and shimmering percussion throughout which all enhance the melodies and album themes.

Merk is the solo project of songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist Mark Perkins, which began when Perkins recorded 2016’s Swordfish (winner of Best Debut at the Taite Music Prize). While Swordfish introduced many of the qualities that Merk continues to cultivate, it’s on Infinite Youth that he comes fully into his own.

INFINITE YOUTH – OUT FRIDAY 9 APRIL 2021 THROUGH HUMBLEBRAG RECORDS.

Distributed via Border Music (NZ) + Made with the support of NZ On Air

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