Merch Girl is the new EP by indie-pop punks Fresh, out today via Specialist Subject.
Merch Girl is a remedy for the frustrations of existing as a woman in the music industry: bursting with joy and pain; love and loss; angst and victory. Raw, vulnerable and unprocessed, Kathryn Wood’s vocals evoke the intimacy of a conversation with an old friend.
The stripped-back instrumentation in B-sides ‘Long, Long Time’ and ‘Easy’ increase the intimacy between listeners and the lyrics, contrasting with title track ‘Merch Girl’ which tells the story of a girl who is fictional but is also many of us, giving “a reflection of the ways we come into our own as women artists”.
‘Long, Long Time’, a cover of a song by Linda Ronstadt and aptly the longest song on the EP, explores the pain of resilient but unrequited love. This song takes us on the journey of loss: the quiet reflective moments; the moments of unsuppressable pain; the moments of cherishing the unsalvageable love. This song climaxes with Kathryn bellowing:
“I’ve done everything I know to try and make you mine, and I’m going to love you for a long, long time”
I’ve always loved Fresh’s ability to write unsung hero songs; album tracks that hit you in the belly and make you want to play them on repeat like a mantra. At just over one minute long, ‘Easy’ is one of those songs. Sing-song vocals accompanied by cheerful harmonies, strumming guitars and a tambourine juxtaposes with the painful subject matter, like a cut with a pink, sparkly plaster on. I will certainly be lamenting alongside them as I try to process my past: “if only it were easy”
However, the title track ‘Merch Girl’ is the one that cuts me deepest a woman in the music industry: telling the story of a woman who longs to be on stage but finds herself in background jobs. Eventually, she is able to take control and create art that she believes in. This a song that could get even the weariest commuter nodding their head along to on the tube; reinvigorating listeners and inspiring them to indulge their artistic urges.
Despite never selling merch, I am the fabled merch girl, and quite possibly, so are you.
