Truly Loving it

with Nate Mercereau

It’s a familiar story at this point. When the pandemic effectively shut down what we might call “the old normal,” everyone had to adjust and adapt. As mentioned elsewhere in this issue, 1455 leaned into the possibilities of virtual programming, at once a pro-active stance (the show must go on…), but also an opportunity to be more active and more inclusive. Obviously, we witnessed how Covid impacted everything from the way we shop to how teachers instruct (in and especially outside of classrooms), and no one was spared from this societal disruption.

A funny thing happened mid-way through 2020. Just when it seemed like everything was going to sputter and pause, many of us—especially the special ones who spend so much time inside our own minds—found that we were busier than ever. Unexpectedly, we had managed to become more productive, more obligated, and with much less time to do the myriad things on our ever-growing lists. It brought into sharp and not especially welcome relief how we’ve steadily blurred the lines between work/life and online/offline and “evolved” into becoming part of the machine.

Needless to say, things are still shaking out, and we’ll likely continue grappling with the fallout from the global pandemic for years if not decades. On one hand, we’ve seen office workers preferring to, if not insisting, on staying home a welcome restoration of personal time and space (not to mention the positive impact on the environment, with many millions of people not congesting the roads each day). On the other hand, how to define “downtime” in 2022? Is there such a thing and will it require unplugging entirely to even remember a reality where we weren’t conjoined twins with our portable devices?

The bottom line, it seems, is that it’s on each individual to ascertain how present they wish to be—for their families, their hobbies, their friends, their sanity. One thing is certain: we can’t unwind time and that genie from a pre-digital era is never going back in the proverbial bottle. As always, there’s opportunity here, and storytellers will help to make sense of where we are, and where we might go.

For me, while I relished seeing artists refuse to put their work on hold indefinitely, I was most inspired by the ways musicians rallied to retain familiar ways of engaging—with audiences and one another. Virtual “concerts” became a thing, allowing us to connect in ways that would have been inconceivable only a decade ago. How refreshing, also, (finally!) utilizing technology to unite and not divide.

 If I were to pick a kindred spirit with whom I associate all the positive implications of what we saw and learned during the worst months of the lockdown, it’s not a writer but a musician. His name is Nate Mercereau, and his output these last few years has been a case study of turning challenges into adventures, setbacks into breakthroughs. His art is a deviation from the norm in all the right and necessary ways.

His 2021 release SUNDAYS grew out of a series of weekly live improvisations. To quote from his website, “(the album) developed out of…“spontaneous composition”—weekly inter-dimensional delves via live-streamed performance…the ten tracks aren’t traditionally structured songs. They’re human, emotional, and alive. SUNDAYS began less as an album and more as a space to process the world.” (More reflections can be found via Nate’s website)

It’s safe to assume these sounds would have resonated deeply with me before or after 2021, but coming as they did both as a reaction to and commentary on Covid augmented their import, and appeal. These tracks emphasize feeling over form, and—among many other things—reinforce the necessity of slowing down, letting whatever thoughts crowd one’s mind wash through to find those quiet spaces where peace and purpose often hide out.

I’ve probably listened (and meditated) to “Truly Loving It” more than any other song from the past few years, and I’ve described it to friends this way: “with Vangelis-like vibes of otherness, it could be a soundtrack for an alternate Blade Runner, where instead of trying to kill one another the characters sit around discussing and exploring what more human than human truly signifies.” If that’s not particularly helpful, I’ll add that I find the track contemplative and labyrinthine, unsettling like the truth can be and sublime like the world always is.

There’s more. Taking things to a whole other level, Mercereau next got in touch with the real world in an unprecedented way. His follow-up release, Duets | Golden Gate Bridge finds him, well, performing duets with…the Golden Gate Bridge. This remarkable project is detailed in pieces that appeared on both NPR and in The Guardian. From the latter story: “I saw a headline in the San Francisco Chronicle that said the Golden Gate Bridge ‘humming is driving people crazy’, and ‘a team of engineers are working to shut it up.’ But when he heard a recording of the musical tones coming from the bridge, he said “I knew there was potential to reframe these sounds as something unique and beautiful.”

The resulting album is an astonishing achievement, and unlike anything you’ve ever heard before. Nate Mercereau, in sum, is emerging as one of our more interesting and engaging contemporary artists, using his unique approach to sound in order to tell stories, about himself, our world, and the extraordinary times we live in. Visit him online to support his work and spread the word.

Nate Mercereau‘s music feels like staring down a kaleidoscope. The songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist surveys the fractured borders between sounds, celebrating the beautiful moments where they collide. And when he’s not making his own music, he’s looking at the world of pop through his prismatic perspective—he’s produced or played on records by Leon Bridges, Jay-Z, Lizzo, and The Weeknd, just to name a few.

Moreover, Mercereau has learned that no matter what sounds he’s working with he needs to lean in close, to focus on the details. “When you keep zooming in on something, it can get more detailed,” says the Los Angeles-based artist. His new album, SUNDAYS, embodies that as he dives headlong into a mystical, rich vein of sonic worlds, each song more intricate, intimate and expansive than the last.

Website: natemercereau.com
Twitter: @natemercereau
Instagram: @natemercereau
Facebook: facebook.com/natemercereau