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Following Mercia’s first official release and remix of I Still want in 2021, the Coventry based artist offers a full EP which consists of 5 pieces which explore and reflect his home town within the setting of breakbeat and UK bass. 6am starts off the exploration with ethereal atmospheres and lush piano before exploding into a full bodied breaks journey. 95 Bones’ remix follows this with a club ready acetate driven flip of the original which continues the story. The title track City Of Villains and Kiddah remix adds further spark to the package with a searing sub bass which is riddled with deep energy a syncopated reese bassline sharp breaks and shining accents before the EP is rounded off by the bubbling and energetic Hill Cross Flyover which closes out this journey channeling how we've all been feeling this past year waiting for the return of the dance; it carries Strictly Rhythm influence and a prescient vocal motif.
We have had the pleasure of interviewing Mercia and this has been the result.
Can you tell us a bit about your experience? Where are you from / how did you get into music? So my main experience from when I was younger was definitely playing the piano which then connected to my DJ Path. I started playing at a melodic techno event in London which my brother was the promoter and then from there my sound grew. How is your sound evolving? What artists and genres do you like to mix at the moment? My sound evolved with the times. When I was started the melodic techno scene was huge which combined techno elements with nice melodies. Over time my influence from labels like motoring, feel my bicep, Dansu Discs and shall not fade, elements like breakbeat patterns became more of a element in my tracks. Housem guys are really good at the moment, moodzman, Lobec, Barry can’t swim.
How do you feel your music influences or impacts your listeners? I like to hope it makes them feel good inside. Instead of just a 4/4 drum pattern track, want to take my listeners on a journey. What projects are you working on right now? What can you tell us about your last job? So I have a few more tracks that are near completion for Mercia. I also have another alias under Lielow which is more house and garage orientated, so keep and eye! Where are you and what have you been doing now? So I also run a company with label owner of motoring called Innerwall. We specialise in producing, managing and programming events in the Midlands and new are working on some new stuff for 2022, which we can’t talk about too much yet!! Has that sound changed much in recent years? What is your musical criteria? It is changing every day. I usually think if I like a track and think I can improve it I want to recreate it. My main music criteria is how it makes me feel but also ‘can this be played in a club’. Do you feel safe now to play a more experimental sound? Not completely. I think this is why I have to create different alias. I don’t want to confuse people. The more I relate under Mercia and create an identity I think I will be able to do this. We all know that the digital revolution has affected sales, but has it affected creativity? No I would say it has enhanced it. We now have thousands of vsts, samples and information about music production right there in a click of a button. I do think certain areas like social media now means DJ’s and producers now have to be a jack of all trades as social media allows anyone to be anything. Can you tell us about your present and future projects? So with music I’m working on few more tracks but I’m currently still working on my event management business which hopefully will correlate with my productions as well! What was the first thing that attracted you to the world of electronic music? My brother. Him taking me out to his events in London aged 17 made me want to be part of it. Do you remember any record or concert that changed everything? Speaking to an artist called Aparde. Seeing him play and being so humble in terms of teaching me about production really opened my eyes. Since you got into this professionally, what have you missed the most nationally, internationally and on the contrary, what has helped you to grow the most, even to believe in yourself? I would say sending out my music and hearing positive feedback. The worst thing about being a new producer is thinking if your music is good enough. It’s about getting your music finished, getting it out there and then improving from there. How is the music scene in your city experiencing this murky pandemic situation? I think I can say this for a lot of promoters. After Covid, it has changed the scene. People now are less adamant to buy advance tickets and rather wait last minute. I would say it is improving but it is good to be back playing. What are your favorite places to hang out in the city? Probably the cathedral lanes or the A444 which leaves the city. Have you had time to focus on making music, spending time with your family, or planning future projects? I would the contrary. It has definitely made me busier having a full time job, running my own business and producing but it has made me value more time with friends & family. How was your last project born? If I was being blunt probably being stuck inside from the pandemic and having nothing to do but I would say it inspired me to change and build a sound for myself and create this EP. What do you want to convey in this work? What is the concept behind? A new identity and also a name that can deliver deep, melodic club music. The concept I want to eventually ending up at is playing live. As for your studio, what is your setup currently made of? So no hardware synths at the moment which I’m saving for but Ableton 11, Ableton push 2, Novation Launch, APC 40, Native isntruemtns A61 and a load of vsts. What is the one team you will never get rid of, no matter what? Tottenham. What would you say is the definition of your sound? I don’t like to pigeon hole myself to one genre but for Mercia I would define it as left field club music. What was the last record store you visited and what did you get out of it? It was a cafe called cafe artum that has a record shop in it. It is based in Birmingham and has some great records. My last record from there was a dub plate from hard to find records - Justin Timberlake - Señorita (Hook Up Tunes Remix)
Artist: Mercia Title: City Of Villains Label: Motoring Records Cat #: MTG008 Format: Digital Genre: Breaks / Breakbeat / UK Bass Release Date: 15/04/2022 Buy / Pre Order:
