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New Orthodox bio:On Bull Market on Corn, New Orthodox (Nicholas Merz) makes music that responds to the American expanse with plain-spoken thought. The pedal steel player’s songs paint pictures of the fractured ideologies that shape life in this country through the melodic haze of his instrument, the comedy of his lyrics, and the surreal choreography that accompanies his performances. The music is both intimate and grand, charged and claustrophobic, taking the tools of country and spinning them out of context.
Bull Market on Corn marks the debut of the project New Orthodox, but represents a continuation of many of the themes that have colored Merz’s songwriting. The album was recorded with Steve Albini, whose musical output, principled ethic, and honest production served as an early inspiration for Merz. With Bull Market, he wanted to keep in extraneous sounds to provide perspective to the recording space; like the click of his foot as he plays, almost nod to some Shellac tracks. That attention to detail lends to the album’s intimacy, the close range from which it explores Merz’s playing and American life.
Bull Market on Corn also offers a deep exploration of the rich sound and history of the pedal steel. Pedal steel has been primarily used in country music — the tradition of the cradle of America. In his music, Merz takes this history and flips it on its head, transforming his instrument’s gentle twang into a resonant, echoing hum, or a growling, swarming buzz. His vocals, too, reimagine history, taking a forthright style of singing and filling it out with echoing melismas. It’s Merz’s way of playing with American musical idioms, putting a new spin on them to match the stark nature of his songwriting. Merz developed these songs while on tour, writing fragments and then discovering variations each night as he traveled. The performance is an important counterpart to the music itself. When he plays, he moves in dramatic yet constrained jolts, stilted yet completely choreographed and in-sync. It’s another way of conveying the surreal absurdity of his music, derived from the mechanics of the pedal steel.
Each song on Bull Market feels like a different fragment of the American experience. Tracks like “Glory” reflect on the male perspective of older generations, in fiery and sarcastic overtones; “Blue Marble” personifies the relationship between humans and our planet, the push/pull and often decimation that occurs from one party to the other, in lamenting sighs. Elsewhere, he probes remembrances, like on “One Less Cop,” which draws from his mother’s life experiences and his memories of living in a trailer as a kid, or cuts right to pressing political issues, like “Industrial Complex,” which is a noisily urgent response to America’s prison system. It is vast territory to cover, but Merz’s work is in connecting the dots through the bellowing drone and long tail of history of his pedal steel, using the instrument to tell the story of the present through the lens of the past.
Annie Leeth bio:
Annie Leeth is a producer and violinist based in Athens, Georgia. She has worked with many influential figures in the music industry, including Mike Mills, Darius Rucker, Jeff Tweedy, and Faye Webster. Her self-titled project has a wide range of influences, taking production inspiration from Indie-Pop, Hip-Hop/Rap, and Electronica, with lyrics focused on mental health, music industry, and the state of the world.
Marcel Sletten bio:
Marcel Sletten is an electronic music producer, composer, writer, and visual artist based in Athens, Georgia. He is the founder, curator, and art director of Primordial Void, an independent music label, and Cosmic Trattoria, a music blog and mix series. He fronts Chairs, a recording project and multimedia art collective. Sletten was also the keyboardist for Elephant 6 outfit the Rishis, a recording project led by songwriters Ranjan Avasthi and Sofie Lute, and featuring members of Neutral Milk Hotel, the Olivia Tremor Control, and Elf Power.
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