Ryan Mercer
Music for Car Commercials
Forged Medical Records (Montreal)
By Zach Peterson
 Up and coming. Rising
star. Wonder boy. Exciting new artist. The only "Holy shit!
This kid is great," clichés that don't apply to Ontario's
Ryan Mercer are "flavor (or flavour, as Ryan may prefer)
of the week" and "new Dylan." This young-20s singer-songwriter
has something special and I'm not just saying that.
First off, there are the songs: quirky and gentle but never
boring, with lyrics that give reverence to casual observation
and offhand reference without trying to be too cute. Secondly,
there's the voice, which will leave most listeners asking, "Who's
the chick?" But fear not, he's hardly the lead singer from
The Darkness or Frankie Valli-Mercer's constant falsetto isn't
grating. The vocals, complimented by well-crafted guitar parts,
are the most distinct part of this young Canadian's sound.
Put the songs, voice and acoustic guitar together and you
have Music for Car Commercials, the debut 5-song EP by
Mr. Ryan Mercer. The tempos are mostly upbeat, which should quell
tired Nick Drake comparisons. If one must draw parallels, Mercer
lies somewhere between Superchunk and Belle and Sebastian.
In "Closer Than We Appear," Mercer muses, "I
would love to join the cult of tortured artists drinking whiskey/But
I doubt it'd help to clean up my mouth." And there you have
it, a new artist who is fragile yet innocent enough to remain
smitten by this often puzzling and damning world. Music for
Car Commercials should open some doors for this kid and maybe
even live up to its title.
www.forgedmedicalrecords.com
Contact Zach Peterson at zapper-at-rockzilla.net
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