To state the obvious, it’s not been easy for bands / artists to make music during lockdown, but the challenges for bands who are split between different countries is particularly difficult. Finnish lo-fi indie outfit Merriment and Dirt definitely fall into this category, as two of the band are based in Helsinki, whilst the other two are over here in London.
Last time we featured them was exactly a year ago after they’d just released their EP ‘Final Boogie’, the highlight of which was the distinctly downbeat ‘No Worries’, a track which promised that if you thought things were bad now, just wait because they were about to get much worse. Then Covid happened. It was all very suspicious.
‘No Worries’ had a charming video attached to it where 3 of the band danced their way down Kilburn High Road in happier times, and today they released a new video to another track on the EP ‘Limit’. It was filmed on a drive into Helsinki (although there’s some footage of a Berlin and a Belgrade too) and given the Covid restrictions features just singer Milena and bassist Matu interchanging seats and being chained up in the back, another simple but engaging idea – even though I miss the dancing from the absent members KC and Budi.
Musically they write curious warped indie guitar tracks, which only really break out into tunes in the chorus, and that throws attention on to the lyrics, which are always pointed. I’m not sure how to quite describe the music, maybe wonky lo-fi indie pop, but there’s something endearing about them – even if ‘Limit’ doesn’t quite match ‘No Worries’ melodically,
Watch ‘Limit’ here:
I love bands like this. If and when we hold that alternative Nordic Indie Music Festival they should definitely play, along with Gypsy Chicken obviously. Who cares if it’s a commercial disaster.
They‘re not on Facebook, because I suspect they don’t want to be. But you can find them on Twitter and Bandcamp.