Modern Meryl Streek: Songs For The Deceased (CD) | Freebird Records

Songs For The Deceased once again saw the Irish artist enter Darklands Audio with producer Dan Doherty (Fontaines D.C.). The outcome is a kaleidoscopic fusion of news samples, distorted guitars, electronic beats, and traditional Irish music, all laying the foundation for Streek’s impassioned spoken word performance.

To push the music into new spaces, Meryl Streek invited guest musicians to collaborate. Benefits’ Kingsley Hall provides spoken word to the album’s ‘Interlude’, Cal Graham from UK punks The Chisel appears on ‘Dogs’ and influential guitarist Oliver Ackermann (A Place to Bury Strangers) delivers a feedback soaked outro for the song ‘Murder’.

Lyrically the songs veer from the deeply personal (‘Paddy’ is a tribute to his uncle Paddy, a unique individual who chose to live life by his own terms) to historic tragedies (‘Stardust’ remembers the victims of the fire that took place at the Stardust venue Feb 14th 1981, killing 48 people and leaving families begging for answers as to why the disaster happened in the first place). “This is a collection of stories about Betrayal, Murder, Injustice, and Corruption around my hometown of Dublin.” explains Meryl Streek. “It’s not just happening in Ireland, it’s happening around the world and we’re supposed to just take it lying down?”. Politically charged and sonically vibrant, Songs For The Deceased isn’t just a statement about Ireland, it’s a call to arms around the world.

1. Welcome
   
2. Fine Jail
   
3. If This Is Life
   
4. Bertie
   
5. Counting Sheep
   
6. Dogs
   
7. By One’s Own Hand
   
8. Paddy
   
9. Interlude
   
10. Gambling Death
    
11. Terence
    
12. The Industry
    
13. Murder
    
14. The Stardust