Meet Mereki.
After lending her airy vocals to Goldroom‘s four-to-the-floor disco jam “Only You Can Show Me” last spring, the rising Australian singer-songwriter premiered her debut solo single: “Blue Lake,” a dreamy ode to long distance love that glitters with a kind of hazy summer nostalgia, produced by one of alternative pop’s most reliably amazing producers of late, Justin Raisen (Sky Ferreira, Charli XCX).
It was instant obsession at first listen, basically.
Here’s what Mereki told me about the track (and video) back in November:
“Blue Lake” was originally written on a trip to Los Angeles while I was still living in NY (I’m now permanently based in Echo Park, LA). My boyfriend lived in LA & we were doing the long distance thing- and I’m Australian so I can sometimes feel like I’m living my whole life long distance. So, I guess the song, emotionally, is based around longing for loved ones and hoping that they don’t forget about you while you’re gone. Lyrically though It was written mostly about new love; when everything is fresh and intense and hopeful. It’s also about the insecurities, fears and uncontrollable urges that come along with being in love, especially for the first time. The concept for ‘We can throw our shoes into a blue lake’ is an homage to Kate Bush (“Hounds of Love”) and references letting loose & doing whatever the fuck you want, really.
I’ve always really liked the idea of a song being about whatever the listener wants it to be about though, whatever they get from it, you know. So it was funny for me because as I started putting together the music video, I became a new listener in a way and saw the song differently. I included all of this vintage footage of my parents wedding and when I watched the first edit I actually sobbed, pretty embarrassingly heavy, through-out because I discovered this whole new meaning to my own song. My father’s health isn’t 100% so Blue Lake, for me, became a song about the way my parents love for one another is greater than time, geography or even this world. ‘I’ll be waiting for you/ I hope you’re waiting for me’ morphed into this really bitter sweet line. The concept of being young and in love transformed into growing old and being in love and then dying and still being in love. But that’s one of the things that I love about making music…you never know what your songs might mean to someone else, or in this case, even yourself.
And there you have it.
To tide us over as she puts in work on her upcoming debut LP (another one of my Most Anticipated of ’14, for sure), there’s this tasty new treat for the New Year: A remix of “Blue Lake” by Canadian production duo, WMNSTUDIES.
The WMNSTUDIES mix takes Mereki’s vocals and chops, mashes and warps them around a tropical breeze, giving the song an even more hypnotic feel. Check it out below — it goes down real smooth.
Photo credit: Eleanor Stills
“Blue Lake” was released in June. (iTunes)