SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: NICHOLAS MERZ – AMERICAN CLASSIC

Nicholas Merz
American Classic
Independent

If you haven’t encountered Seattle singer-songwriter Nicholas Merz before, either with his band Darto or solo, American Classic, the title of his third chapter of The Duvall Sound, as he calls it, might sound a bit pretentious.

Still, take a listen, and the first thing that strikes the listener is Merz’s deep vocal tone. As the album evolves, the second thing you notice is that songwriting actually follows in the tracks of the vocalists he resembles – anywhere between Scott Walker (early solo phase) and latter-day Nick Cave.

Copycat? Not by far, as Merz injects quite a solid dose of his own personality into his music. After all, just combining Walker and Cave would be a complex task in itself, with Merz touching base with some solid Americana too.

So, could you call this an American Classic? Well, Merz did, and frankly, he is not that far off.

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