MBB 70: Merry Ellen Kirk-Healing with Music

“Merry Ellen Kirk draws frequent comparisons to the likes of Tori Amos and Ingrid Michaelson - her earthy, powerful vocals warrant the likeness alone. Her adept keys add to create a sound that is at once whimsical, longing and urgent. Kirk plays soft extremely well but some of her notably edgier efforts, particularly “Rise Up Against,” [a]re especially impressive.” Emily Cline, The Dentonite

You may have heard Kirk’s songs on TV shows like 90210, APB for Fox, Jane by Design for ABC Family, as well as ads for brands like Salvation Army, North Face, Kona Bikes, Vogue & GQ India, Rode, and Total Warrior

Pop music is malleable; it is fluid and carries with it a sense of emotional elasticity. Through our collected experiences, we connect with music on a primal level, with perceptions and associations both tangible and dream-like. While most musicians opt for a superficial understanding of these musical correlations, there are those who realize these innate forces and their ability to transform and sustain in equal measure.

But for singer-songwriter Merry Ellen Kirk, music is even more wide-ranging than this rather inclusive set of descriptions would have you believe. Having spent her early years in Mongolia—her parents were missionaries—she developed a diverse awareness of the world, and of what music can be when experienced through a different cultural lens. As a child, she began making up little ditties and developed an inescapable desire to create music; after a time, when her family returned home and settled down in Nashville, she came to realize that writing and performing music would have to be a large part of her future.

Over the course of the last six years, her pop adaptation has served the needs of her records perfectly. Bits of piano, organ, synthetic melodies and rhythms and a love of the pomp and orchestrated theatricality of ‘80s pop music has given her songs a vivid and vibrant life all their own. Channeling the spirits of artists such as Tori Amos and Imogen Heap, she undermines listener expectation even as she provides a familiar foundation on which to build a unique pop-centric aesthetic.

To learn more about Merry Ellen Kirk visit here: https://merryellenkirk.com/bio/

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