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Exploring Vulnerability Through New Eyes
If Merpire, the musical identity of Rhiannon Atkinson-Howatt, utilized her debut album Simulation Ride as a means to directly examine her personal vulnerabilities and human flaws, then her follow-up album, ‘MILK POOL’ represents a significant shift in perspective. Essentially, this second record explores those exact same weaknesses and imperfections, but crucially, it does so through an entirely different conceptual lens. Furthermore, for this Naarm/Melbourne-based artist, creating ‘MILK POOL’ involved experiencing a kind of second adolescence. Consequently, Atkinson-Howatt writes throughout the album as if she is once again deeply involved in all the intense drama and overwhelming anxieties typical of high school life. As a result, emotions feel incredibly large and outsized, angst is noticeably heightened, and every single experience or feeling is presented with the absolute conviction that it is the most important thing ever.
A Darker Sonic and Visual Palette
The album’s title, ‘MILK POOL’, was chosen specifically for its visceral quality, intending to capture what Atkinson-Howatt describes as “the murky fluidity of the action it took to create it.” Importantly, this title also signals a darker overall atmosphere present within the music and artwork. Visually, the cover art presents a distinct contrast to her debut. Instead of the summery colours and bright sunlight shining directly on Atkinson-Howatt’s face seen on ‘Simulation Ride’, ‘MILK POOL’ features an artificial glow illuminating the back of a body turned away from the viewer. Moving into the music itself, the track “Rosanna” fully embraces a tonal quality reminiscent of Mitski, a direction Atkinson-Howatt only hinted at on her first album. Additionally, it incorporates a subtle hint of Billie Eilish’s style while flittering drum pads provide rhythm. Meanwhile, the song’s punch-drunk melody effectively digs into powerful feelings of embarrassment and persistent worry.
Songs of Realization and Insecurity
The dazed yet simmering anger found in “Canine” carefully explores that precise moment of realizing an impending breakup is unavoidable. Within the song’s narrative, Atkinson-Howatt describes biting her tongue hard to prevent herself from causing a scene and ruining a family gathering. She delivers sharp, observational lyrics like “Waiting by the fire / Watching as the flames engulf your head / From the rocking chair I sit in,” singing them with the suggestion of daggered eyes watching the subject. Following this, “Internet” unfolds as a delicate piano ballad draped in low, intimate light. The song brilliantly throws out the kinds of anxious, insecure questions an infatuated teenager might desperately type into a search engine, including “How do you know if somebody likes you? / How do you read their body language? …What are the lyrics from that song she sent?” capturing the universal awkwardness of young obsession.
Teenage Energy and Raw Desire
Exploring these familiar anxieties through a fresh, adolescent perspective also naturally brings along significant doses of energetic fun and youthful pep. Consequently, the album’s opening track, “Leaving With You,” perfectly sets this tone. In this song, Atkinson-Howatt depicts the experience of being very tired, but she still opts to remain at a party just because a person she likes has just arrived. Moreover, she conveys this uneasy excitement by asking the question, “Will you let me down tonight?” Lying with that mouth I want,” while the music itself develops a subtle hint of feverish, gritty texture, coloring the song’s edges. Moving forward, the track “Fishing” powerfully channels that quintessential teenage spirit.
The track includes group vocals that proclaim they are “just another bunch of misfits trying to do right / we’ve got enough shit to deal with,” reflecting a feeling of common experience and comradeship. In the meantime, “Bigger” is the loudest and most explicit of the band’s whole record in terms of physical aspects. At the same time, it conveys an insatiable, nearly beast-like, sensory craving for one another. This intense mood is driven by ragged, distorted synths and guitars. Atkinson-Howatt’s request within the lyrics, “Keep your hands where I can eat them please,” leaves the meaning absolutely impossible to confuse or misinterpret, emphasizing raw desire.
Maturity Beneath the Youthful Lens
Interestingly, in a significant way, MILK POOL’ actually emerges as a more mature artistic statement than her debut, even though its lyrics are predominantly written from a deliberately younger, adolescent point of view. Consequently, its overall darker, shadowier emotional countenance and sound mean it doesn’t achieve the same level of immediate, surface-level catchiness found on ‘Simulation Ride’. Specifically, there’s no obvious, instantly memorable earworm here likely to get stuck in your head for days on end. However, this shift in focus offers distinct benefits for listeners willing to engage more deeply and dig beneath the surface.
Rewards of Deeper Listening
Balancing the complex human desire for adult stability and being settled against the powerful pull of youthful thrills and excitement, the song “Retriever” showcases clever lyrical craftsmanship. It features intricate lead-on sentences that unfold meaning gradually; these nuances are best appreciated by actively reading the lyrics alongside listening to the track. Furthermore, “Internet” can be interpreted as offering a pointed critique. It seems to direct a critical finger towards the way intuitive technology increasingly distracts us and potentially replaces genuine human contact and connection. Ultimately, the sound of “Cinnamon” created using the acoustic guitar is a warning; in essence, it features the awesome, sometimes overpowering, nostalgic aroma of memory, thus leading the audience not to linger too much in the past but rather to stay with the present moment. Each track rewards attention with layered themes.
Genre Roots with New Shades
Merpire continues to operate firmly within the established sounds of indie slacker rock, and importantly, the core feelings of restlessness, unease, and profound uncertainty remain strongly present throughout this new work. Essentially, while the overall presentation might now wear a different stylistic color, these fundamental emotional elements still form the underlying structure, like bones covered by altered clothing. However, Atkinson-Howatt’s key shift involves approaching these familiar themes from a distinctly different perspective. Consequently, this change significantly reduces the amount of that crucial, infectious giddy joy found previously. Besides that, she really changes that less heavy feeling to a quite shadowy, more atmospheric and a sexually more explicit, erotically charged, jovial and exuberant nature. Simultaneously, she is identifying new paths, delving into the primal side of human nature and expressing raw, unfiltered feelings.
A perfect illustration of this shift occurs within the track “Rosanna.” Specifically, Atkinson-Howatt sings the line “I’m embarrassed how often I think about you,” managing to encapsulate that entire coy, blush-inducing experience of an overactive, obsessed teenage mind in just one single, potent sentence. This focus on intense, sometimes awkward, youthful feelings defines much of the album’s exploration.
Artistic Progress and Regression
As for the essential influence, the album ‘MILK POOL’ probably would not have made a bright or long-lasting first impression, much like the impact that the debut album had on her first listening. Moreover, it is reasonable to acknowledge that some of the songs from this album fall short in differentiating them from other similar ones in terms of music and theme within the same musical style. On the other hand, the main idea of the album – Atkinson-Howatt deliberately experiencing her teenage years again via songwriting – is a very interesting change in her creative path.
Ultimately, this deliberate revisiting means that her second significant step forward creatively also, somewhat paradoxically, moves her backwards emotionally and thematically. This dual movement happens partly through her own clear intention to explore adolescence again, but also, interestingly, carries an element of unintentional regression inherent in diving back into those younger, less settled emotional states.
