$1,000,000 Worth of Twang is a brooding country opus from guitarist Nate Mercereau of Bay Area band, The Park. The instrumental themes were recorded in Mercereau’s bedroom and mixed in SF, but they might just as well have been recorded in a ghost town in New Mexico. From the EP’s onset, you feel enshrouded in its windswept creeping soul.
At times, namely the beginnings of “Movement” and “Prelude,” you feel like you’re drifting through the desert during Sam Elliot’s intro narration to The Big Lebowski. It’s just that country, funky, offbeat, and “twangy,” for lack of a better word. Throughout the EP, Mercereau explores the different textures and hues of twang– a sound that you know when you hear it. It’s Southwestern in geography, a bit haunting in nature and raw in texture. Perhaps a grainy video will surface of him on horseback sauntering down a tumbleweave-littered East 12th st. with a guitar on his back, a Colt .45 on his hip and a bottle of tequila in his hand.
We’ve watched The Park back everyone from the soft and soulful Mara Hruby to the fist-pumping Wallpaper, and in the process we’ve watched Nate Mercereau riff on many different sounds. Nonetheless, $1,000,000 of Twang‘s cactus soul caught us off guard. Only time will tell if this is what a solo Nate Mercereau sounds like, or if this is a one-off themed project. Either way, it’s a distinct contribution to the Bay Area’s eclectic body of music.
