Genre: Alternative-rock, Singer-songwriter
Is pop music really a career choice, or is music-making a life-calling? In the disreputable world of hit-making, it takes years, sometimes months, for an entire career to meet its coveted design, reach its pinnacle, then unravel. With any business looking at the Return on Investment as the metric to go by, the resources poured into creating pop stars are getting slimmer in order to accommodate the diminishing profits.
On the other hand, how long does it take to create a Jeff Buckley or a Chris Cornell? Provided you have the deific material to shape to your liking, it should take decades. And, since we all still need those kinds of records, desperately, let’s take a minute to thank the likes of Theo NT, who are doing the work for us.
The Greek singer-songwriter’s debut album is a mixture of ethereal singing, esoteric lyricism, and potent alternative rock. It’s the result of a steady obsession with the days when major record labels might still throw their considerable weight behind a Buckley, or Cornell. Imagine that!
Mermaid opens with the acoustic lament of Lost a friend, a tune that showcases the singer’s considerable vocal range and sets the template for the rest of the record. Embroidery further administers the record’s mysterious nature with jazz guitar finesse.
Strange little girl and Game are of the album’s closest approximations of pop creations, albeit melancholy-filled ones nonetheless. Meanwhile, Sovereign Pneuma and Solar Eternity shimmer with an almost prog-rock grandeur as the songwriter glances at the infinite.
Finally, My last mistake, with its hushed, prayer-like vocals reminiscent of Matt Bellamy, draws the curtain on the record.
Mermaid is an album that etches dreamy horizons on tenor murmurs and tears them all up again. It’s a record that, just like the great ones, requires your presence, both mental and physical, and rewards those willing to provide it.
