Meer’s first, self-titled album, released in 2016 and followed in 2021 by Playing House, simply stopped me in my tracks. The band’s sound is fresh, vibrant and exciting, blending elements of folk, prog and pop to create an original and striking voice. The Norwegians’ latest album builds upon the quirky but accessible style of its predecessors but expands the musical horizons into something more polished, ambitious and diverse.
So, who are Meer, and what makes them so special? Fronting the eight-piece band are sibling vocalists, Johanne Margrethe and Knut Kippersund Nesdal. Knut’s mellifluous tones led to him represent Norway in Eurovision, while Johanne’s vocals boast a captivating and arresting sonority ranging from silky purity to impassioned, raw emotion. As well as the expected guitars, keyboards and rhythm section the line-up includes violinist Åsa Ree and violist Ingvild Nordstoga Sandvik, adding an extra dimension of warmth and expressivity to the sound. Like fellow Scandinavians Moon Safari, all the musicians provide backing vocals, creating deliciously sonorous harmonies. The songs are composed collectively by the band, and it is as a collective that this talented octet shines, combining to produce varied soundscapes and textures that enhance the heartfelt delivery of the lead vocalists. Although superficially the songs veer towards the poppier side of prog with their catchy melodies and instant appeal, the arrangements are sophisticated and multi-layered and the bittersweet harmonies often lead the music in totally unexpected directions. The musicianship is superb, and all the band members present impassioned, exhilarating performances that sweep the listener up in a tide of emotion and convey all the immediacy and thrill of a live show.
Chains of Changes opens the album with strings, piano and guitar enfolding us in a sleepy haze of nostalgia. The excitement immediately ramps up as this material is energetically reprised by full band, leading into Johanne’s entry with the first of many melodic earworms. The lyrics reflect on the contrast between innocence and experience – Like children burned oh how we learned that “ignorance is bliss” – a theme which permeates the album. Dynamic rhythms and compelling vocals suggest the changes that distance us from carefree childhood days, while an interlude of dreamily reverberant vocal harmonies evokes the world of wonder of our lost Eden.
Behave depicts a destructively addictive love affair and, in a characteristic Meer juxtaposition, is musically both searingly emotional and enjoyably upbeat. After a cool but subtly menacing opening showcasing Knut’s caressingly smooth and expressive delivery, Johanne’s harmony vocals add warmth and urgency. The impatient refrain Why don’t you behave? grows increasingly vehement while the instrumental patterns and chord sequences become successively more densely layered and obsessive, in a perfect marriage of words and music.
Take Me To The River resonates with longing for lost days of youth spent innocently amongst nature. It opens with a repeated four-note piano figure overlaid by synths and guitar, introducing the emotive and bittersweet alternation of major and minor harmony that characterises the song. The repeated invocation Come back to me, with sumptuous vocal harmonies and shimmering reverb, feels both magical and almost unbearably poignant: again the comparison with Moon Safari springs to mind. Once more subverting expectations, instead of a melancholy close Elvind Strømstad’s guitar pierces the nostalgic mist with energetic roulades brimming with the vitality of youth and the track ends joyously with soaring strings and an uplifting burst of church organ. (As an aside, does this theme remind anyone else of the famous Toccata for organ by Widor, once the go-to choice for society weddings?)
The optimism continues in Come To Light, an inspiring and timely reflection on how to live: Make your mark, take a stand, do you clench a fist or give an open hand? Proceedings open with a relaxed groove, Johanne’s voice floating angelically above a delicate tapestry of piano, synths, plucked bass and soothing drums. At the words Come to light the percussion falls silent, and with a magical shift of perspective we gaze down from afar at the troubles of the world, guided by the luminous soundscape of Ole Gjøstøl’s piano and an upward arc of violin melody. As the tempo and dynamics increase, the scoring becomes positively cinematic in texture and scope, and the song’s uplifting message is pealed out joyously in rich harmony vocals. Savour this ecstatic moment, gentle listener; for the storm is coming.
The irresistably radio-friendly Golden Circle is described by the band as ‘our poppiest banger yet’. Its thoughtful lyrics describe the contemporary malaise of seeking intense sensation in order to drown out a deeper sense of dissatisfaction and meaninglessness. This obsessive craving is graphically evoked by edgily syncopated rhythms and the passionate delivery and breathlessly choppy phrases of the vocal lines. Full-powered instrumentals, piquant harmonies and Mats Lillehaug’s supercharged drumming combine to create an intoxicating sense of reckless energy spiralling to an electrifying high before crashing abruptly into silence.
To What End reveals a heavier side to Meer’s sound. Once more the subject is our fall from grace and the pain of being human but the imagery is brutal – It’s a tooth for a tooth and an eye for an eye … and you’re grasping and clawing and kicking and scratching. An insistent accompaniment figure introduced on synths acquires new instrumental colours throughout the song, accumulating in intensity and menace. Johanne stretches her flexible voice to its limits, climbing effortlessly from her lowest to highest register within the first minute and gradually darkening her tone towards a raw aggression that powerfully conveys the anger and violence of the lyrics.
Today, Tonight, Tomorrow offers a brief respite with its poignant portrait of an individual on the edge of society, always on the outside but desperate to belong. Knut’s vocals are light, graceful and tender in this lyrical and romantic ballad, yet conveying a deep sense of yearning below the surface. Rippling piano interweaves with tender pizzicato and bowed strings to produce airy, dance-like textures that contrast with lush and cinematic layers of sound. A rhapsodic guitar solo from Eivind Strømstad brings the track to an emotional and wistful apotheosis.
The all-too-brief World of Wonder revisits a pensive interlude from the opening track. Ole’s opening piano solo feels like an improvisation, exploring and searching through different tonalities. Liquid splashes of colour from the vibraphone and the reverberant acoustic and give the impression of an image refracted through water or dimly recalled from a fading dream.
With Mother we are once more reflecting wistfully on the days when a parent could ease our troubles, hold us close and tell another story. The siblings’ sweet and tender vocal harmonies are cocooned by the mellow, comforting sounds of flute, solo strings, brushed drums and lush symphonic landscapes. If this gentle lullaby were any longer it might fall into the trap of sentimentality, but within the context of the album it is perfect.
In the two final tracks the focus shifts from longing for the past to existential dread for the future of our world. The harshly distorted instrumentals, anguished vocals and grinding dissonances of Something In The Water feel particularly shocking after the yearning sweetness of the previous number. The drums’ relentless death march and the obsessive mantra of Enjoy the calm because the storm is coming create a rising tide of menace, reflecting the watery images of destruction that pervade the lyrics.
This Is The End offers a grim warning, or perhaps obituary, to the human race: Dance upon our graves, forget about our names, pick up the pieces of the house we could not save’. Ominous piano chords are gatecrashed by thunderous percussion and dissonant instrumental patterns evoke the menace of the incoming storm. Johanne’s poignant vocals quote from Purcell’s lament from Dido and Aeneas, ‘When I Am Laid In Earth’, establishing a suitably funereal atmosphere. The instrumental storm returns, the vocals become more insistent and the funeral dirge transforms to an emotional indictment of humanity. The lyrics recall lines from previous tracks, but with a darker subtext. After a final, anguished scream of This is the end a tenderly elegiac passage, dominated by piano and strings, briefly relaxes the tension. Wordless harmony vocals soar above rhapsodic instrumentals, yielding to the inexorable return of the thunderous drums and anguished chorus. The track – and the album – terminates abruptly on an unresolved dissonance. This is the end.
Wheels Within Wheels delights and moves the listener with its earworm melodies, evocative harmonies, irrepressible energy, and momentum is sustained by the album’s compelling ebb and flow between innocence and experience, nostalgia and violence, optimism and pessimism. Meer’s reflections on life and love are insightful and challenging, but delivered with charm, panache and captivating musicianship. What’s not to love?
TRACK LISTING
01. Chains of Changes (6:21)
02. Behave (5:48)
03. Take Me To The River (5:05)
04. Come To Light (5:09)
05. Golden Circle (4:34)
06. To What End (5:34)
07. Today Tonight Tomorrow (5:55)
08. World Of Wonder (1:30)
09. Mother (5:24)
10. Something In The Water (5:33)
11. This Is The End (9:18)
Total Time – 60:11
MUSICIANS
Johanne-Margrethe Kippersund Nesdal – Vocals
Knut Kippersund Nesdal – Vocals, Keyboards
Eivind Strømstad – Guitars, Keyboards, Programming, Backing Vocals
Åsa Ree – Violin, Backing Vocals
Ingvild Nordstoga Sandvik – Viola, Backing Vocals
Ole Gjøstøl – Piano, Keyboards, Programming, Organ, Backing Vocals
Morten Strypet – Bass, Backing Vocals
Mats Fjeld Lillehaug – Drums, Percussion, Backing Vocals
~ With:
Andrea Brennodden Rosenlund – Flute (4, 9 & 11)
Lars Gärtner Fremmerlid – Vibraphone (8)
Liv Elvira Kippersund Larsson – Additional Backing Vocals (4)
Signe Josefin Kippersund Larsson – Additional Backing Vocals (4)
Simon Johannes Nyqvist – Additional Backing Vocals (4)
ADDITIONAL INFO
Record Label: Karisma Records
Country of Origin – Norway
Date of Release: 23rd August 2024
LINKS
Meer – Facebook | Bandcamp