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Music

Mermaid Avenue run us through each track of their new album Temptation And Half The Truth

Earlier this month, we were treated to Temptation And Half The Truth; the incredible new album from Brisbane band Mermaid Avenue.

Ever since it dropped, we’ve been spinning it on repeat. So we caught up with the band for a run down of each of the album’s tracks.

Fresh off the release of their new album Temptation And Half The Truth, we caught up with Brisbane outfit Mermaid Avenue for a run down of each track.

Effigy

The shortest intro on the album! A straight up indie rock number. I wrote this one fairly quickly and it sticks to about four chords which keeps the bass player happy. It’s about realising you aren’t actually in love with a real person but infatuated by the perfect image of them you have built up in your own mind. Scary stuff haha.

Wagons

Being in an independent band from Brisbane doesn’t pay the bills so we all work various jobs… and a bit of that comes through in this song. Wagons is essentially about a couple in the daily grind of life trying to make ends meet whilst trying to find the time and energy to pay each other a little attention in between the easy distractions of social media, television and alcohol. A bit of Paul Westerberg meets Big Star in this one.

Hold On To Love

I lost my mother to cancer quite unexpectedly a few years ago, and this song is essentially about that. Though it is quite personal, I think the message of the song is pretty universal… ie. appreciate your loves ones because one day they will be gone.

Temptation And Half The Truth

Our Every Rose Has It’s Thorn … seriously though it’s a break up song and I did listen to a lot of hair bands once. Our guitarist is always itching to kick some dust outside a church in this one.

Jealous Heart

This is probably the most different track on the album. It started out as a sad three chord country song but then slowly mutated into goth infused synth rock. One for burning down the highway alone in a car when you are in a bit of a mood!

Washed Up

This is the oldest song on the album from back when I just had an acoustic guitar and was yet to find the guitar pedal section on eBay. It was inspired by the first couple of Wilco albums. Our drummer and bass player do some good knee slapping in parts.

TDK

I once had an old Mazda 929 that only had a tape deck so I used to spend inordinate amounts of time formulating the perfect mix tape for the ride. At the time I had some health problems that meant I couldn’t drink much so I became the designated driver. I was also a bit of a loser in general so this song is an ode to that!

Caroline

I wrote this song sitting on the beach at Rosslyn Bay near Yeppoon in Central Queensland. I don’t know what the song is about really but it’s a beautiful spot so maybe that has something to do with it.

Horses

I remember my dad telling me once when I was a kid that when World War 3 starts you’ll see the nuclear missiles as red lights coming over the horizon. I don’t know why he told me that or why it has stuck in my memory but events in recent times have probably stirred it up hence the ‘horses on the horizon’ lyric. The rest of the lyric is really about the perfect storm of unbridled capitalism, unprincipled cynical politicians and the rise of far right wing politics – and I wrote this before Trump! With all this deep subject matter we thought a bit of saxophone would lighten the mood a bit hahaha.

Rise

A hangover love song. Just watch out for the loud bits if you are a bit tender after a night out! I had the verse progression for about 2 years before I figured out how to take it somewhere. In our heads the middle eight and the outro is our tribute to Oasis or The Verve but in reality it doesn’t really sound like either.

Listen to Temptation And Half The Truth above.