I’ve heard quite a bit about Merchandise through the grapevine, and word is that this mope-rock trio are pretty much the second coming of The Smiths. Well, not entirely (maybe more related to Joy Division or Echo and the Bunnymen in my personal opinion) but I can definitely see where they are coming from, Morrissey-esque vocals and reverb-lathered drums definitely echo something of the early rattlers on Meat is Murder or The World Won’t Listen.

The Tampa-Bay lads ‘Merchandise’

But Merchandise, who sprung out of the Tampa DIY hardcore scene, are a little bit different – I can’t quite put my finger on it, but the band have a grim quirk to them that’s pretty infectious. It’s 80’s miserablism but with a modern twist.

The stand out track to me on Totale Night has to be Anxieties Door, mainly because it’s such a throw back to a real 80’s –dystopian indie pop classic. Programmed dance beats, catchy guitar riffs smothered in reverb and plaintive crooning from front man Cox. A lot of bands do this sort of thing, diminished recording quality to show that their record obviously harks back to a time of early digital recording, but when it’s done wrong it’s sort of like filming in black and white, what’s the point? But Merchandise does it right. The track is so long and eerie that you just sort of get lost in it, and that’s a beautiful quality for a track to possess.

The title track of the record is also a decent tune, coming in at a massive 9 minutes and 20 seconds; it sort of runs along the same vain as Anxieties Door, only a lot weirder. But it’s asking quite a lot to be listened to through to the end – it’s not particularly catchy, shrill and caked in white noise. However I’d say at about the 4-minute mark you get it, and something about the spooky, psychedelic atmosphere really works. And it’s sure to be a hit with the music buffs who will really appreciate all the audio geekery used to create such a commendable level of sonic weirdness.

But the slower songs on the record tend to drag a little bit, which is a shame because I really do love this LP. ‘Winters Dream’ could do with being about 3 minutes shorter. And ‘I’ll Be Gone’ gets a tad repetitious and could probably do with the same. But these two, extremely Smithsy tracks are good nonetheless. If you’re miserable and mopey I bet they get about 10 times better.

So overall, psychedelic, melancholy and strangely beautiful – Totale Night is a great LP. Not a classic though. But I get what Merchandise are doing and I really quite like it.

Merchandise – Totale Nite

Rating – 7/10