LA MERE has premiered her new single titled ‘I Don’t Listen Anymore’, releasing tomorrow (August 18th). Seeing as we don’t usually consider visualizers as actual music videos, I can’t help but get totally hypnotized by watching this. They should put subliminal messages in here telling me to lay off the sugar. Aside from that, the perfect mixture of sight and sound becomes mesmerizing in and of itself with a beat-led cacophony of beautiful harmonies and hook with a song that goes well beyond the dance floor.
LA MERE is obviously an artist that has found her sound, but wait there’s more, she is also developing her brand. I see the birth and development of a possible empire all within the song that catches the moment a star was born.
About LA MERE
Following on from her recent singles ‘Cherry-Coloured Funk’ and ‘Devil In The Day’ both featuring Johnny Marr (The Smiths) on guitars, ‘I Don’t Listen Anymore’ continues La Mere’s musical evolution, channeling a message of positivity over breezy synth-pop melodies and airy vocals that work alongside Anthony Saffery’s (Cornershop) deft production.
Meredith says: “I am sort of obsessed right now with the idea of taking my attention back from the constant barrage of doom and gloom news and using my energy to cultivate joy, connection & creativity as a form of activism. This song poured out all at once centered around this idea and this line that came to me in the night, which is actually sort of a loving challenge: didn’t you know it’s the new punk fashion to take back your attention?”
Johnny Marr adds: “Meredith has been on my songs and on our bus since 2014. She’s the Angel of the family with the voice to match. Now I get to play on her new songs. It’s a buzz.” After taking a break from her music career to put down roots and start a family, LA MERE’s Meredith Sheldon—who previously toured internationally with such acts as Johnny Marr, MARINA, and the Lemonheads—returns with a genre-spanning series of dance/pop singles.
Meredith explains: “Adopting the name LA MERE struck me as hilariously fitting because Mer (or Mere) has been my nickname since I was a kid but recently I put together that it also means “the mother” in French. It seemed like the right thing to take on a new name for this new chapter, seeing as the music is so different from anything I’ve produced before.” The tracks, which feature Johnny Marr of The Smiths on guitar, and production by Anthony “Saffs” Saffery of Cornershop/Portugal. The Man, represent a quantum leap in songwriting for Sheldon, inspired by the years of experience gathered along her own spiritual, physical & emotional journey, and culminating in becoming a mother in 2018.
In 2010, she joined Family of the Year on vocals, guitar and bass, and relocated to Los Angeles. Her time with Family of the Year was short but productive, inspiring another level of writing and demoing of her own songs. These demos got into the hands of MARINA, who requested that Sheldon open for her on tour. Through 2011 and 2012 she toured extensively in the US and UK supporting Evan Dando and the Lemonheads, as well as opening for MARINA on the first leg of her Lonely Hearts Club Tour. In 2013 and 2014 she appeared as support for Johnny Marr’s North American and UK tours.
Sheldon wrote, produced and self-recorded 2 EPs and an LP during this time; working with industry titans Tony Berg and Bob Clearmountain in Los Angeles to put together a full-length record. She released her own recordings in 2015 before going on hiatus for nearly 8 years. During this time she relocated to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, attending the Barbara Brennan School of Healing, immersing herself in energy healing and homebirth midwifery, attending births, focusing on self-healing and starting her own family.
In 2021 Johnny Marr enlisted Sheldon to sing backups on his new record, Fever Dreams Pts 1-4. This opened the gates for her to begin writing again, and by the start of 2023 she had begun to amass new material of her own.
All images by Emilee Lindley.
LINKS:
https://lamere.komi.io/
https://www.instagram.com/lameremusic/