Merpire pays homage to friendship in the scuzzy garage rock track “Fishing”

Grungy guitars and driving drums frame the polished coming-of-age song “Fishing.” The plucky ode to friendship captures the chaotic storm of life and love relationships, and how friends step in to be our anchors. “And there’s not enough fishes to choose from when everyone’s fishing like it’s the last time,” Merpire sings over fuzzed-out instrumentals. Accented by euphoric harmonies and changing chord structures, “Fishing” tackles the cyclical worries of youth, and the joys that make it worthwhile, using garage rock sounds as a backdrop for the chaos.

Written during quarantine, “Fishing” is an ode to the resilience of Merpire’s friend group, and specifically, her community of musical peers. “Having so much taken away from us, only to band together in strength, still creating, making further sacrifices than we already were pre-pandemic just showed how much music is, at the core, what we live for,” she explains. “This is a song for every artist who makes huge sacrifices every day, while still being able to support other artists for the love of art.”

The solo project of Melbourne-based Rhiannon Atkinson-Howatt, “Fishing” comes off of Merpire’s new album MILK POOL. A name inspired by the “murky fluidity” it takes to make art, Merpire created the project while in the final throes of a relationship. The resulting album is defined by its themes of transformation.

“Like life, the only constant on this record is change. Changing depending on the song and who’s listening to it. I’ve made this record intentionally fluid and indeterminate of age, creating worlds drawn both directly and indirectly from personal experiences,” Merpire says. “MILK POOL is finding home and displacement. It’s deep and pure romanticism for places and people and how that changes with time.”

Traversing genres like dark-pop and alternative rock, the album shares stories of early crushes and the fantasies we impose on them, healing after long periods of disconnect, and of course, finding a home in your friends. The resulting project is gritty and cathartic, and a reminder that, while change is hard, it also leads to acceptance, growth, and, in time, freedom.