A Quick Chat with Merpire
Huge congrats on your second album MILK POOL – what can you share with us about the sounds and themes you explore on the album and what was different this time as you were writing and recording, compared to your debut, Simulation Ride (2021)?
Hey, thank you! With this record, I wanted to express more of the darker and sexier side of me. Many of the songs are my expression of reclaiming safety in feeling sexy. MILK POOL isn’t a drastic departure from my first record, Simulation Ride, rather an expansion in every direction – sonically, lyrically, emotionally. There’s more secret rooms behind bookcases and dark tunnels to go down. I’ve intentionally tried to make more room in each song by having some instruments up close and others farther away. I kind of arrange the instruments in a sitting room in my head and with the help of my producers and engineers, move them around accordingly for the most emotional impact, be it wanting to evoke melancholy or excitement.
There’s more time for some songs to build too. On ‘Rosanna’ for instance there’s an instrumental that really helps build tension. It’s as if Terminator is walking towards you and somehow gaining speed even though you’re driving and he’s walking. But then after Liz’s (Elizabeth M. Drummond) stand alone eerie vocal, when the beat comes back in, Terminator starts sashaying towards you instead and you just wanna dance with your eyes closed.
I’ve grown bolder and more confident in my production ideas. It’s probably just the gift of getting older too, giving less fucks what people think, or more accurately, what I think people will think.
You’re taking the album on tour this August too – congrats on selling out Naarm twice! – what can folks expect from these shows?
Thank you, I was truly shocked! Especially by how fast they sold out too! Makes me feel so very loved. I am SO excited for these solo shows. It'll be the very first time I play a bunch of songs from the album. Some of which felt so vulnerable to record let alone play live so I’m both nervous and excited about this.
I’m going to host a short Q+A between the artists who’ll open each show and myself. I want to use this as an opportunity to share the love and challenges of releasing music right now, songwriting and sharing how we can both support more and feel more supported. I think this insight is important to share to help fellow artists feel less alone in their thoughts of how impossible a career can feel right now as well as to gently educate audiences about how tough it is out here.
We heard you were writing the album while touring Ireland and the UK with Pillow Queens – what was that experience like?
One of the songs on the album, yes, ‘Cinnamon’. It really came out of nowhere and to be honest I almost binned it. I didn’t like the line, ‘Who’s cooking with cinnamon?’ but it just kept coming back. I pushed through and once I wrote the chorus, I finally understood what I was writing. It was one of those songs that writes itself in an afternoon. It felt like I was the puppet and the song was the puppeteer, in a good way.
You were an original founder of ISOL-AID during the pandemic – we hear it was a “whirlwind”! Can you tell us more about what this was like?
I still don’t know where I found the energy and focus to pull something like ISOL-AID off. It was uncanny the way it came together so quickly. The first person I spoke to about it was Angie McMahon. With the help of a team, we organised that first weekend of 75 acts around Angie’s 6pm instagram-live session for a news outlet she’d previously had organised. I talked about it with Angie on a Tuesday, then with all of our heads together and a passion for our music community driving us on, we started it that weekend. It was a 24hr job for about a month. Between organising new acts, liaising with their teams, managing the timings, new artwork, new mail-outs, FAQs, live interviews, pre-recorded interviews, written interviews, phone interviews and being at every single set… It was no wonder it sparked my first real breakdown.
It was incredibly hard to step away after “only” 4 weeks. Especially because it had such a positive impact on the world. I lived for the lovely messages from people saying it was helping them get through the loneliness and boredom of lockdown or that they’d for one reason or another never managed to see their favourite artists perform live before ISOL-AID. That was so rewarding but the very real experience of my mental breakdown was a serious reminder that you can’t do your best for others if you can’t do what’s best for yourself first. I had to let go of ego too, to realise that just because I can’t do something doesn’t mean no one else can do it. The thing that no one else could do was write my music, so that was the shining beacon.
Do other art forms like film, TV etc influence / show up in your music – if so, how?
They do indeed. The song ‘fig.8’ from MILK POOL I wrote in response to watching the tragic story of figure-skater Tonya Harding in the film, I, TONYA. I related to the competitive aspect having grown up doing athletics competitively from a very young age until I was about 20. I relate to feeling like I don’t fit the mold of toxic, hierarchical, competitive industries because I’m much more passionate about having a sense of community.
I write my music with movie scenes in mind, including camera angles and lighting, so film and tv definitely play a big part. As do books. Reading my first fantasy series – The Kingkiller Chronicles trilogy by Patrick Rothfuss inspired ways of painting scenes in the songs on MILK POOL, and circling the edges of crushes.
‘Fishing’, the focus track of MILK POOL, comes alongside a really sweet video – what was the idea behind this track and what were you hoping to achieve with the video (we hear there’s a second one in the works as well)?
‘Fishing’ came together when reflecting upon the devastating impacts of lockdown on the arts community. I watched friends lose so much – big tours, financial stability, a chance to release music and develop as artists and humans in general. I was and continue to be deeply inspired by their ability to keep going, keep sharing with each other, and keep working on their art despite how much we’re up against.
I remember feeling the pain while writing lyrics like, “Like the quiet in the cupboards / and we’re back to playing covers”. There was so much sacrifice that we gracefully or shamefully kept hidden. Like aiming to buy enough food for the week, or living on noodles and rice for a while so you could pay rent too. We’d always find a way to support each other.
The chorus, “We’re saving up only to rush in / and spend it all like it’s the last time” refers to more to energy than money and this is reflected in the video – a bunch of friends hanging out and filling up on each other’s company. It was bizarre and beautiful to capture it for the video quite so perfectly.
I daydream all the time about the moment I play this with the band live and have the audience scream the first line with me, “I’m just a little bit in love with all of my friends!”
And YES, yet another video is coming – a mashing up of different people’s homemade skate videos. This is in reference to the beautiful skate mates I had in lockdown. I get really choked up every time I go to edit this video because it captures the lyrics and feeling so well.
You co-produced MILK POOL with James Seymour – how would you describe your approach to production vs the way you approach instrumentation?
They definitely go hand in hand, in that I’m thinking about the production when choosing instrumentation. For instance, on the song ‘Internet’, I wanted to transpose the chords and melody from guitar to piano and I wanted the piano to be recorded with a room mic, a little bit of reverb so that it sounded more spacious. Then I wanted the opposite done to my main vocal. I wanted it to sound very close up and intimate because I deliver it quite quietly. I wanted it to sound whispered into your ear, almost. That to me helps get across the idea that you’re listening to a secret, like you’re the priest in the confession booth.
We’ve heard you get called a “musicians’ musician” a LOT – so, who are some local artists we should check out?
A difficult question but off the top of my head, these are absolute beauties – Elizabeth M. Drummond, Chitra, Abby Wallace, Juice Webster, Armlock, planet:pain, World’s Best Neighbours, Harris, Fan Girl, Clea.
Can you share with us five things that make you laugh no matter what?
They’re ALL animal related, apart from the last one:
If MILK POOL was a movie, who would direct it and why?
OOft, what a great question. Maybe Paul Thomas Anderson. I’m thinking of his films Magnolia, Punch Drunk Love, Licorice Pizza and the deadpan humour and the look at ordinary lives with real love in them. I love the way these films, especially the last two, develop and play out as if nothing is really happening but you’re hooked anyway. I’m sure there’s a term for this that I just don’t know about. I think the way the songs on MILK POOL are observational and left unresolved lyrically are a bit like this. I think PTA and I would share the same humour throughout too.
Merpire - Milk Pool Tour 2025
Fri 15 Aug 2025 – Junk Bar – Meanjin / Brisbane, QLD - TICKETS
Sat 16 Aug 2025 – Lazy Thinking – Eora / Sydney, NSW - TICKETS
Sun 17 Aug 2025 – Smith’s Alternative – Ngambri / Canberra, ACT - TICKETS
Thu 21 Aug 2025 – Merri Creek Tavern – Naarm / Melbourne, VIC - TICKETS
Tickets on sale now
