INTRODUCING: Mere Women

‘Heave Ho’ is the second single off Mere Women’s latest album, Your Town. It’s a super dark and often sinister look into regret and our uncanny ability to make the same mistakes over and over again. Their last record, Old Life, came out around two years ago, and I’m really kicking myself for letting them pass me by for so long. This track, and the rest of Your Town, has so much to love: bad arse vocals, dark,  post-punky synths, and off-balance but totally catchy guitar lines.

‘Heave Ho’ is the sound of someone begging to be bailed out. Singer Amy Wilson’s voice is powerfully beseeching when she sings, ‘This love’s too hard / this love’s too hard’. That line, repeated again and again in combination with the tight and stony drums, pounds her pain right into your heart.

We get a moment of respite in the middle of the track with a spiralling and spare piece of synth. The tight drums skipping along underneath make sure that none of the momentum is lost before a tough and striking guitar line comes in and it’s all hurt and struggle again. But then, another switch – in the last minute the song throws us a taunting hook: ‘It would be so easy / it would be so easy’. Wilson’s voice is stronger now, and more authoritative. It sounds like she really could make a change and leave this hard love behind.

The number of distinct parts to this song, and the record as a whole, is impressive. There are enough great melodies and beats on here to fill at least a couple more albums from a lesser band, but these songs never feel crammed in or suffocated. With Your Town, Mere Women have made it clear that they can’t be slept on any longer.

Your Town is out now on Poison City Records

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