Album Review: MEZMER, Melodrama

By Christian Cole, OOTB Publications

OOTB is no stranger to the local music scene; in fact, we have a fond love for local art on all fronts. So, it’s no surprise to hear that this week we are covering the latest EP release from Toledo, Ohio’s very own MEZMER.

Melodrama is a project written, recorded and produced entirely by Jonathan Sherer, and the results are mesmerizing (pun intended).

This EP is a painfully beautiful release—ambient in nature and devastating in sound. It reels you in immediately, and lays upon your chest like a ton of bricks.

The amount of despair and angst from one track to another is immeasurable, but it comes in the form of beauty. The space each track builds is absolutely incredible, and even at times, gut wrenching.

It’s hard to make instrumental tracks that can paint such vivid pictures, but MEZMER does exactly that with Melodrama.

The riffs ebb and flow from intense to distant and aching. The ambience is not just background but it is necessity.

Tracks like “From My Lifeless Body, Flowers Will Grow” hit you with an air of familiarity, but also with a feeling long forgotten. Like suddenly feeling a deep pain you can’t diagnose or a feeling of loss you can’t quite explain.

The end track, “Heaven,” is properly titled, as it feels like a slow ascension into something unknown, but truly gorgeous.

Welcoming the year with a local review is always a stellar feeling, but when it digs THIS deep, it’s even better.

If you’re a fan of local music and want something fresh that will shake you for all you are, do yourself a favor and check out MEZMER’s Melodrama as soon as you possibly can.

Favorite Tracks

“Flood, 1973”

“From My Lifeless Body, Flowers Will Grow”

Rating

4.1/5

Listen To Melodrama

https://ffm.to/mel0drama

https://mezmeroh.bandcamp.com/album/

MEZMER is

Jonathan Sherer

Joshua Clark

Mitchell Hartman