Merk (musician)


Mark Perkins, performing as Merk, is a New Zealand singer-songwriter. In 2016 he attended the Red Bull Music Academy in Montreal. Merk won the Independent Music NZ's inaugural Auckland Live Best Independent Debut award in 2017. He has released one studio album: Swordfish.

Early life

Mark Perkins was born in 1994 in Tauranga. He played music throughout school, and after graduating in 2011 moved to Auckland to perform with a friend. He later got an internship at Roundhead Studio owned by Neil Finn. During his spare time he would learn the ropes of the recording and producing process with Finn. His next job was at another company packing boxes, and in exchanged was granted permission to use the store basement as his recording studio.

Musical career

2016–2017: Early years and ''Swordfish''

Recognising his talent, in 2016 Red Bull sent Merk to represent New Zealand at the Red Bull Music Academy in Montreal. After which he graduated as an alumni. On 18 November, Merk released his debut album Swordfish written, recorded, produced and mixed by himself with additional help from Alexander Wildwood and Ben Jeffares. Djeisan Suskov was credited with mastering the album. The album took around six to eight months to record according to Perkins, he recorded five versions of each song. Within a short amount of time after release, the album gained over 70,000 streams across Spotify and Soundcloud.
In January 2017, Merk won the Independent Music NZ's inaugural Auckland Live Best Independent Debut award. On 30 March, a music video was released for his single "I'm Easy".
On 2 May 2018, the single "Lucky Dilemma" was released and added to subsequent reissues of Swordfish. On 5 May, Merk performed as support for local New Zealand musician Estère.

2018–present: "Hang"

On 29 August, he released his new single "Hang", a so-called "anthem for hanging out in solitude" aimed at introverts. A music video for "Hang" was released on 26 September.
In January 2019 he announced that he was going on a four-date tour with Julia Jacklin starting 27 February, performing in Christchurch, Dunedin, Auckland, and Wellington.

Musical style

Merk's sound has been described and psych-pop, and home-spun alternative pop. On Merk's bandcamp site he tags his music similarly, with alternative, indie, pop, and psychedelic.

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

Music videos