Bringing his unique style of folk, blues-rock, cabaret and vaudeville, is Brisbane based singer-songwriter Jordan Merrick.
In 2015 the young singer-songwriter began to develop his live show where he lived in the Gold Coast, Queensland.
Once Merrick moved to Brisbane in 2016 his thirst for a bigger sound and company on the stage was quenched when he formed his band, Fugitive & The Vagabond. In mid 2016 Fugitive & The Vagabond released their debut album, Novella that featured the light-humored and upbeat single “My Girlfriend” – ultimately showing how Jordan Merrick has a wide range of songwriting capabilities.
His talent was recognized in 2016 at the Gold Coast Music Festival when he was nominated for young ‘Songwriter of the Year’ and the song “The Wild” also nominated for ‘Song of the Year’.
While writing and performing for Fugitive & The Vagabond will continue, 2017 had been a huge year for Merrick’s solo debut.
This humble, musical poet released his debut single “Untitled #1” in February (2017) which alone has had 750k+ plays on Spotify, had national radio play on Triple J & Double J and was later followed up by the single “You Gotta Go” that reached #2 in the AMRAP Regional charts in May. Merrick then took his debut EP In Colour (released May 5) on tour along the East Coast of Australia.
Following a handful of other releases and successful touring, Merrick released Low Country in June 2019, which showed how Merrick has shaped his sound from his folk beginnings into a fleshed-out, full-band sound. This was followed by two more singles, ‘I Don’t Belong’ and ‘Dangerously Sincere’ before his debut album, Night Music was released on October 25, 2019. Venturing through blues, folk, rock, country and elements of vaudeville, this studio project involved big arrangements comprised of layers of instruments.
In 2020, Merrick returned to his humble sound made simply with his poetic lyrics and an acoustic guitar. During that crazy year, he released several singles to acclaim from fans and critics.
Today Glide is excited to premiere Merrick’s new single “Lonelier Than You” ahead of its official release on April 16th. Written during the pandemic, the song explores feelings of isolation and anxiety that have sadly become all too familiar to many of us in the past year. Merrick sings with a charming and haunting growl while laying into bluesy guitar stabs. There is a slow crawl to the song, making it ideal to be played in a darkly lit club. He contrasts references to pop culture with a sort of timeless approach, and as he belts out the chorus of “I’m lonely, so lonely,” it’s hard not to think of Patsy Cline singing a similar yet different set of lyrics on “Crazy.”
Jordan Merrick describes the inspiration behind the song:
“Like a clipping from an old newspaper, ‘Lonelier Than You’ captures the hysteria of times during the initial lockdown and shines a light on both how far we’ve come since then, and the harm fake news can have on a society, especially during vulnerable times.”
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