Nostalgia Shines Like Mercury: Indie-Rock For The New Generation
Photographs by Jonathan Nevius
It’s our first time at The Atlantis in Shaw DC. Intimate is certainly the best way to describe the space. Not in an Emily Gilmore snooty type of way, but with the true intent of the word - personal, exclusive.
It’s that time in DC where the weather is beginning to change, but hasn’t quite found its footing yet. So there’s a lot of long sleeves and flannels, but not quite as many puffer jackets just yet. The crowd around us isn’t very large at the moment, but it's certainly more than you’d see for the average opener at a smaller venue - around 60 people downstairs, and 40 people upstairs - a little over a quarter of the venue’s capacity. We expect that to change quickly as the night goes on as this is the second of two sold out shows for Mercury and Arcy Drive.
When Mercury arrives on stage, their set up is not what I was expecting from my brief intro to their music the week prior. Three musicians with only their acoustic guitars. The sound I associated with this project of 23 year old Maddie Kerr was a much more plugged in sound, and a full band. Nevertheless, the crowd, which are mostly 30, or maybe even 25, and under are buzzing with anticipation - eagerly awaiting for Maddie, Chris and Justin to begin. When they do, the crowd locks in - paying due respect to the talented musicians on stage who might be early in their careers, but certainly hold the stage as veterans would - with talents to match it.
My knowledge of guitar tech is limited, that’s where I lean on Jonathan, but while he takes pictures in the pit I try to hone in on what’s making Maddie’s acoustic guitar sound like… that. A gritty yet full and rich sound that engulfs the room. It looks acoustic, but sounds somewhere between acoustic and electric. The only frame of reference I have to something like that, is Billy Strings and his incredible use of pedals to form unique and wonderful sounds. Maddie is certainly doing something similar here.
All three guitar players find the right intersection to match each other - reminiscent almost of Crosby, Stills and Nash - but it's Maddie’s voice that really reminds me of recent giants in the space: Phoebe Bridgers or Waxahatchee. It’s soft and light, yet commanding all the same. It compels your attention to it and feels like it's dancing around the personified fire of the trio of guitars. Justin and Chris provide beautiful harmonies with both their instruments and their voice, and emphasize Maddie’s lead very well.
Photographs by Jonathan Nevius
Maddie takes a beat between songs to introduce this band, and explain that their usual set up is a full 5 piece band. It brings forward a realization to Jonathan and I that we’ve always been aware of but never really actively thought about - touring is certainly a difficult endeavor for up-and-coming artists. The costs of bringing along a 5 piece band vs a trio of acoustic guitarists is like night and day - which affects the sound and the way the audience perceives them tremendously. Maddie continues on to say that the style that they're playing for us tonight, softer versions, may not be played again for a very long time. I’ll say, as an ardent fan of the acoustic guitar and what it can do paired with other acoustic guitars in harmony, I am really loving this sound and am very grateful to be among those to see this band in their early stages, because I am confident that they will be taking off very soon.
Photographs by Jonathan Nevius
When she announces that they’re about to play an unreleased song called Heaven off their upcoming release, she notes that it will certainly sound more grungy on the record- but again, I am loving what I’m hearing. It’s airy, it’s melodic, it’s so well coordinated and conducted. The harmonies are ethereal. I’ll be first in line to purchase the tape on release to hear the grungier version.
The interplay between the three guitarists continues to climb. It’s like they keep finding new and more creative ways to play around, in between, and within each other's line of playing - it's wonderful to watch, and even better to hear.
Lending to the intimacy of the venue, is the simplicity of the stage design and its features. There’s no fancy light show or big screens behind them. The only aspect of this that's present is the three spotlights on each musician, and a fog machine at the back of the venue that slowly and gently trickles fog in with the ocassional and intentional burst.
For most openers, especially at a smaller venue like this, the chompers come out in droves. Mercury finds ways to play above the very few that exist tonight at The Atlantis, and pull us in in a way that I don’t even notice them at all.
When Maddie speaks to their radiohead inspiration and plays a few more tunes, you can certainly hear it. Justin lets loose on a very captivating solo with some noodling around the pentatonic scale, with an almost spanish jam type underbelly that catches my ear.
Photographs by Jonathan Nevius
A swath of nostalgia overcomes me in a way that I can’t explain at first. The members of this band are all at least half a decade younger than me, how are they able to evoke a sense of nostalgia in me? Where is this coming from? As they pick up the tempo with their final few songs, but keep the tone constant, it hits me. It’s reminiscent of the late 2000s alt-indie-rock type sound that was rampant when I was shifting between Elementary and Middle School. I hear a 2000s classic in my head while they play, Bring Me to Life - Evanescence (Wake Me Up) but with a modernity that only Gen Z artists in the mid 2020s would be able to craft. Radiohead meets Fleetwood Mac comes to mind, with this fullness and richness of the three guitars but still hearing the grungier tone of what this will eventually sound like when I close my eyes. I’m seriously transported to my mom’s 2003 Toyota Sienna on the way to school, not knowing what any of the words mean, but feeling music intrinsically in a way I have to remind myself to do when listening to music of today. It’s such a wonderful experience.
As the set wraps, I see Maddie smiling at the folks in the front row that are singing along. Having released their first songs in 2022, it's so impressive to see the maturity and tenacity that these musicians have. I feel so privileged to see them so early on in their likely long successful musical journey in this unplugged, raw, fashion that requires the sort of talent that they possess to keep you locked in for the entirety of their set. I leave stoked to see what’s to come from Maddie Kerr and her band of rockers, in the meantime, I’ll be tuning in to their studio releases to find out what I’ve been missing out on for the last three years, maybe sipping on a chocolate milk carton and playing with some Silly Bands while doing it.