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Premiere: Tasmanian ones to watch Meres return with a new single, Stomach
After sharing their last single at the tail-end of last year, the Launceston band return with a taste of what to expect from their 2021.
Posted By Hayden Davies
3 years ago
Header image by Aiesha Hanson.
If you're not keeping up with the music coming out from across the Bass Strait, then you're missing out on some of the most wonderful and forward-thinking art in Australia at the moment. Tasmania is bustling with a post-pandemic cultural bloom, welcoming the return of events like Dark Mofo and A Festival Called Panama while on a smaller scale, live shows have well and truly made a comeback - the state being one of the few to not be affected by a lockdown and venue shuttings since the initial re-opening mid-way through last year.
As such, artists are beginning to come back out of the wood-work, and dropping career-best music in the process of doing so. Take, for example, Launceston's Mary Shannon, a.k.a. the lead vocalist of rising four-piece Meres. The group persevered throughout the lockdown and returned on the other side of it with two new singles to close off 2020; Finally and Feel Ded reinforcing their dark alt-pop charm and with it, re-solidifying their pace as one of their state's go-to newcomers.
Now, they're leaping into 2021 - albeit belatedly - with the rest of the country's eyes on them, and the song that's going to make them all fans is Stomach. Premiering on Pilerats today ahead of its release this Friday (June 18th), Stomach is a noisy and riveting track that encapsulates Meres and all their twisted brilliance, heavily layering grunge-y guitar and thick-cut percussion with vocals that teeter between intimate and anthemic; personal and opening, but strong-armed and tall-standing in their deliverance.
The end result is dark and indulgently rich, witnessing Meres soar to new heights as they continue to level up with every release. "When I look at it from a personal perspective, I know that I’d like to be a confident and brazen type of person who believes in myself easily. But truthfully, I really struggle with feeling like I don’t belong on the stage, or anywhere for that matter. I’m working on it though, and one day I hope to believe in myself the way that I believe in those around me," says Mary Shannon on the single, which also arrives alongside a video clip created by Cameron Jones.
"The film clip’s original plan (I think) may have had a slightly more structured message, but when we got there on the day it just made more sense to cut loose a little, and let everyone decide what they wanted to contribute," she says, talking about the video. "It was just a great, fun and wacky day with lots of laughing and I was very happy to include so many of the talented women in my life that I admire and respect. And big thanks to Arts Tasmania who covered the costs for making this film clip, simply wouldn’t have happened without that funding."
In the end, Stomach showcases the peaks of Meres as they head to the studio to recording their forthcoming debut album this October - with help from Anna Laverty and Ben Simms of A. Swayze and the Ghosts, no less - and with plenty more on the horizon, it's a good time to jump on board the Meres train if you're yet to already.
Watch the single's video below, as it premieres today:
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