Track Premiere: MERGE’s “Kingdom Comedown”

Not content to rest for any period of time, Nancy Kells aka Spartan Jet-Plex (whose Godless Goddess earlier this year we absolutely loved) has yet another assembly of stirring tunes prepped and ready, this time in the form of a project with frequent collaborator and fellow collective member Berko Lover called MERGE. The second single from their upcoming self-titled debut album, “Kingdom Comedown” sees the duo merge (too easy but it had to be done) Spartan Jet-Plex’s neofolk influenced art pop and Berko Lover’s trip hop into a dense and shadowy shuffle that serves as a harbinger of patriarchal collapse. Marbles in jars rattle and clink, heralding horns blare, and busy electronics swarm like locusts over the ominous, swirling drone and witchy back-and-forth chants. These calamitous, brooding ingredients pool together, forming an image of a dark, ritualistic circle dance conducted in an effort to summon forth an otherworldly power to eradicate tyranny.

 

You can listen to “Kingdom Comedown” below:

 

You can also listen to the project’s first single, “Thunder”:

 

MERGE’s self-titled debut is set to release April 12 digitally and on cassette via Grimalkin Records. Also scheduled for release is a 7″ lathe cut including “Kingdom Comedown” and “Thunder”. Artwork (featuring childhood photos of Spartan Jet-Plex and Berko Lover) by Elizabeth Owens (whose ‘Coming of Age’ we also greatly enjoyed).