Merrill’s first outing highlighted the fragility of his vocals, paired with his raw, downbeat emotions against a bedroom folk backdrop. While still holding on to this simplistic ethic, on “Karma Twins” he plugs in his guitar and adds some wiry synth to the equation while employing a larger cast of contributors. Joe Harrison, Jamie Walters, Dillon Casey and Nicky Vassallo contribute alongside Merrill.
Touching on the prevailing existential dread that seeps under our skin from constant digital ubiquity, Merrill expresses the nature of constant connection as being bound. “Karma twins are still tied up / when they’re set loose,” he sings. Merrill and his guitar nearly boil over beseeching his “twin” for something more than a fleeting, intangible connection.
“The idea behind this one,” Merrill explains cryptically, “is humans keep colliding, keep coming together and separating, but the laws of attraction seem to run much deeper than something as fickle as time. They're in your dreams, in your writing – we are all going into the age of telepathy soon.”
