College/Art Rock: Jeff Merchant's Window Rolled Down

My college roommate used to make me listen to all of these independent artists that he liked—or at least, he liked them because they were independent. I appreciated how he championed indie artists, but so many of them didn’t have a sense of melody—as far as I could hear. This was the early 90’s, and for a little while, that’s what I thought indie meant: DIY (do it yourself) recordings of songs with no real melodic or tonal awareness.

That, of course, wasn’t completely true, but in the current indie movement led by posterboy Sufjan Stevens, melody is king of this independent collective of artistic freedom. Stevens, Paul Brill, Meredith Bragg, Listing Ship, and others are making indie rock that is folky, orchestral, experimental, jazz-influenced, multi-multi instrumental, and above all else, melodic.

Add Jeff Merchant to this indie movement. Member of Lullabies, Merchant has released his solo project, Window Rolled Down, which includes help from members of Listing Ship. Tracks like “On Sidewalks & Backyards" have a Stevens-like arrangement (without banjo but with bells, recorder, and french horn). Merchant’s voice even has the tenderness of Stevens’ singing, although Merchant also sing-speaks at other times reminiscent of Spearmint, Kimberley Rew, or Robyn Hitchcock.

Throw in some funk FX guitar on “Guy” or soul organ on “Who’s Driving On” and you’ve got the multi-multi instrumentation plus an ability to layer the indie rock with hints of so much of the music spectrum. Merchant earns a place among those artists who keep musical expression, experimentalism, and artistry alive like modern day troubadours—traveling, writing, discovering, incorporating, and ultimately, introducing us to sounds from outside our insular little villages.

Thank you to Jeff Merchant and true Classical CDs for the review copy.