Today, Australian/English savant of purposeful pop Mereki releases the official video for album standout track “Purple Moons.” Directed by close creative collaborator Lizzy Born, and documenting the transition from LA to the UK, the video is a trancelike dream state of striking visuals, placing a particular emphasis on movement.
On “Purple Moons”, Mereki said, “This song always lulls me into a milky, dreamy haze. For me, it perfectly encapsulates what it’s like to be inside of a good meditation. The lyrics and melodies came out whole after a particularly clear meditation, and writing this song was definitely more of a ‘channeling’ situation. We then demoed this song in my living room in LA and loved the vibe of friends just hanging out together and sharing a magical musical moment so much that we kept the demo vocal take. The vocals you hear on the record were captured in my living room and I love that. I’m always trying to keep the authenticity of the original song in my recordings, which can be hard to do, but I think you can hear that this is a real one.”
She continues, “Creating this video was so fun because I made it with my very talented best friend and longtime collaborator Lizzy Born. While we were geographically separated, she directed another best friend of ours, Rupert Friend, to shoot some Handycam footage on the beach in Cornwall while we were on holiday. I love what we created, and it feels very emotional to witness my transition from LA to the UK captured on film. Mirroring that sense of magic, meditation can also offer such profound transformation, and this video brings all those elements together.”
The video’s director Lizzy Born said, “It’s a love letter between us, formed over the three-year span of the pandemic. In that time, we both moved from the city where we met, Los Angeles. The video became a time capsule of our friendship there, a representation of new ways we were communicating, and the initial loneliness of a new home.”
Back in March of this year, Mereki released her debut solo album Death of a Cloud via BMG and her own label BunBun Records. Created over seven years and three continents, in collaboration with a roster of the artists Mereki trusted most to bring this deeply personal and intuitively conceived material to life, the album is a look into the joy and difficulty of self-realization and finding the universe within, expressing this journey through music.
Mereki described the process of making Death of a Cloud, “like turning myself inside out, peering into the darkest corners of my soul and letting the light in.” She continued, “I learned so much about me and about life and about who I want to be in it. This record means freedom from the past, it means letting go of pain and trauma and becoming one with the light within. This record means growth and healing. This record means fun and playfulness and mischief.”
Death of a Cloud received praise from the likes of Billboard, FLOOD, Atwood Magazine and many others. In celebration of the body of work, Mereki hosted an album release party at Friar Park. At the release party, guests were welcomed with a Lily Vanilli tea party and a bed suspended in the clouds. Mereki’s guests were then invited to take a solo healing journey to self-realization through the magical garden walk, while listening to the record. The grounds were dotted with baby blue mushroom fairy circles and letting go rituals linked to each song on the record.
The other week, Mereki made her triumphant return to the iconic stages of Glastonbury alongside some of her most admired contemporaries. Watch her vlog-style recap of the week here.
ABOUT MEREKI
Indie Australian/English artist Mereki creates pop with a purpose – vibrant musical worlds that share messages of transcendence and healing without sacrificing the fun. Now based in the UK, she first moved from her native Australia to the USA where she quickly found a home in the spiritually minded creative community of the east side of Los Angeles, collaborating with an impressive collection of producers, writers, and musicians as she refined her song writing and voice, laying the foundations for what was to come.
Mereki began writing and releasing music with esteemed writers & producers Dan Nigro (Olivia Rodrigo, Conan Gray, Caroline Polachek) and Justin Raisen (Charli XCX, Sky Ferreira). GRAMMY-nominated superstar producer Ariel Rechtshaid (HAIM, Vampire Weekend, Madonna, Adele) spotted her talent, prompting their collaboration, “Golden Boy”, recorded by fellow Australian icon Kylie Minogue. She scored writing credits with Phantogram and Atrak, and guest artist and co-writer credit on tracks with Dhani Harrison, Goldroom, Basenji, Flight Facilities and Holychild. While fronting Goldroom, she performed everywhere from middle America to NYC to Bogotá, Colombia, before going on to perform with electronic act Flight Facilities as their featured vocalist on the duo’s sold out North American tour.
Kindness and magic are at the backbone of everything Mereki aims to be and be around in her music and in her life. She finds expression for her message in many creative outlets. In addition to music, she is also working on a record label, a children’s book, a book of poetry and a collection of portrait photography. In 2016, Mereki created Mereki’s Clubhouse, a pop-up event platform with a focus on kindness and creating spaces to give a voice to up-and-coming female artists. The Clubhouse motto “Be Kind” grew into a non-profit organization of the same name.
Through all her work with and for others, Mereki found time to create her own music. Her debut solo single, “Blue Lake”, was released to critical acclaim from the likes of Spin, Nylon and Flood Magazine. After enduring some personal tragedy and heartbreak, she found catharsis in a brief foray into high-energy punk rock, releasing a few singles that landed her music in a Victoria’s Secret commercial. In 2017, Mereki returned to the essence of who she truly is with the release of the Beach EP. The songs on Beach have Mereki’s signature style, a distinctly pop-feel with positive messaging, while tracks like “Spiritual”, “French Kissing” and “Got It All” also hold an ethereal, dreamy quality.
Now back with her debut album Death of a Cloud and fresh off a performance at the legendary Glastonbury Festival, this has already been an extraordinary year for Mereki, with much more to come.
For more information on Mereki, please visit:
Website / Instagram / Spotify / Twitter / YouTube / Facebook / Apple Music
