Although her music is definitely falls into the folk category, singer/songwriter Sue Merchant (http://www.suemerchant.net) more closely recalls the after-dark broodiness of indie goddess Nico than her reported influences Joni Mitchell and Joan Baez.
Like Nico, Merchant takes you onto a somber journey, one that is coloured by the spectre of death and romantic loss. It's not easy listening to music this raw and emotional. When Merchant sings, "A photograph of you hung in my dreams," on "Virginia in the Fall," you can feel the slow beat of a longing heart. Merchant is a poet, but not just with her words. Her singing itself, especially when it soars in a ghostly fashion as on "To the Lighthouse," weaves its own black magic. You are compelled to listen to her words. Her guitar playing, sparse and intimate, paints vivid images.
On the title track, Merchant haunts the ears with both her lyrics of regret and her downbeat, melancholic voice. At times her vocals are reminiscent of Annie Lennox's, especially on "To the Lighthouse." However, Lennox has never sounded this pure, this unguarded.
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Merchant can bring a grown man to tears. On "The Homecoming," she mourns the loss of a parent with an aching yearning that shatters the heart into pieces. Without any false sentimentalism or cliched lyrics, Merchant makes us weep. As with the best Leonard Cohen records, it's the type of song that you listen to with the curtains closed.
There's a saturation of singer/songwriters these days, especially here in the U.K. But Merchant easily separates herself from the pack with genuine talent and sincere artistry.
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