Posted on 04/08/2008
Having just moved flats (apartments to y'all Americans), I know what a painful process it can be. So given that Merz made this album to a backdrop of regular evictions, you could forgive him for feeling a litte bit sorry for himself on Moi et Mon Camion. But rather than wallow in his own misery, he's made a wonderfully uplifting album that calls to mind influences as diverse as Nick Drake, Brian Eno and even Orbital, whose Paul Hartnoll guests on a couple of tracks.

 

It's a record that's at once deeply traditional and contemporary, based on one man and a guitar with a supporting cast of musicians from the cutting edge of electronic music (Goldfrapp, Portishead and Roni Size). Merz has basically adopted the role of troubadour from the days of yore, a poet of no fixed abode travelling and performing to earn his living. The folk music that provides the foundation for his music is embellished with electronica and a knack for beautiful, multi-layered arrangements that transform his tales of everyday trials and tribulations into songs which transport both performer and listener to a better place.

 

Despite its French title (borrowed from the name of the removal company Merz used numerous times during recording) Moi et Mon Camion is a thoroughly English album, whose lyrics drop references to chip shops, puddles, barking dogs and drunks, while the brass band used to stunning effect on "Malcolm" conjures up more memories of wet, windy days in North England than I'd care to remember. However the abiding impression you're left with is positive, of optimism in the face of disaster. Even at his lowest on "The Eviction Song", Merz still finds ‘a faint hope in the wind', reflected in the upbeat plucked guitar lines.

 

The quietly epic and anthemic "Call on Me" and "Presume too Much" put their arms round you and tell you everything's going to be alright, while displaying a charm and level of musical invention that's far from ordinary. Merz's talent lies in taking the ordinary and commonplace and turning them into something that's still familiar but refreshingly different. Moi et Mon Camion might be an album rooted in England, but it displays more than enough quality and range to deserve international attention.

 

- Will Georgi