Now leaning toward a more exciting sonic direction, Nathan & Mercury has raised the bar in terms of producing songs that combine a wide variety of music styles.
Written, composed, arranged, and produced by the band, both tracks update their foray into multi-genre experiments with newfound ambition and front-to-back confidence, discarding their inhibitions to make room for more past and present sonic convergence, soul and gospel influences, and shamelessly honest songwriting.
On Fools
The reprise version, according to guitarist and vocalist Nathan Huang, includes a different set of lyrics and a more stripped-down arrangement, but manages to capture the moroseness of the original. While Fools is already gospel-y as it is, we kicked it up a notch by adding in instrumentation and a much colorful play of the chorale.
On Fake Love
“Fake Love” sets the course of where Nathan & Mercury is headed as a musical group. “We mixed together several of our influences, particularly in pop and R&B, with hints of gospel and hip-hop. As a song, it speaks of not wanting anything less than real love—one that shouldn’t cost anything but is freely given.”
Guitarist Alex Samonte points out how difficult it is to produce and arrange “Fake Love,” which initially had 3-4 versions ended up getting scrapped at the very last minute.
Fun fact: Nathan & Mercury spent a total of 30 studio hours for the whole production of both songs, not including the mixing and mastering. It’s also their first time to record for 13 hours straight in a single studio session.
