Press Release 2002:
Gordon Merrick has been quietly releasing acoustic albums (The Strumpet (1999) from Archenemy Records, I am Your Enemy (2000) from Trifecta Press, and Intake/Outtake (2001) from Trifecta Press) and playing a handful of shows in Buffalo and Boston (his current and previous homes, respectively) over the last three years but with his latest album, In a Lover’s Voice (Trifecta Press/Archenemy Records, release date: September, 2002) he has moved outward and upward with lush instrumentation and a full-band to accompany his off-kilter and kinetic renditions of what he calls the ‘new standards.’ These are not, Merrick insists, to be confused with “cover songs.” The difference lies not simply in the execution (trying to replicate the song vs. trying to extend it into something ‘more’ than the original), but in a focused attempt to understand what it is that makes these songs ‘guilty pleasures’ that remain firmly fixed in your head long after they’ve dropped off the charts. Utilizing such full-spectrum instruments as the Farfisa and Hammond B3 organs (among others) alongside sweepy synths, acoustic bass and tight marching drums, In a Lover’s Voice charts Merrick’s musical tanglings with the likes of Peter Cetera and REO Speedwagon in an effort simply to lay bare what makes these good songs, whatever the cost may be.
--Kip Singleton

high-res photo here.

reviews here.

one-sheet in pdf format here.