Beautiful Burning Desire
I’ve always had something of a love/hate (well, more like like/indifferent) relationship with Carey Mercer’s music. His work in Frog Eyes never really resonated with me the way it seemed to for everyone else listening, but his contributions to both of Swan Lake‘s records were easily some of my favourites. Yet what I imagine will be most determining in how I relate to Mercer’s work would be Blackout Beach‘s Fuck Death, the sophomoric effort from his eerie solo project.
In the press release, Mercer describes the record as “a sibling to the last Blackout Beach record, Skin of Evil. But the longing in Fuck Death is not romantic; these are deserter’s songs, coward’s songs.” That lonesome feeling managed to work itself all the way into the recording process, where Mercer relied on only himself to complete the tracks, falling back on a mere three synths, two drum machines, a guitar amp, and fellow Frog Eyes member Megan Boddy for backing vocals.
The record is out digitally and on vinyl today via Dead Oceans, but to get an idea of what you’re in for, have a listen to the seven-minute opener, the dreamy and unsettling “Beautiful Burning Desire.”
+MP3: Blackout Beach – Beautiful Burning Desire
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His name is Carey Mercer, not Casey. You are fired.