Nashville artist Maddie Kerr makes sprawling wall-of-sound country-tinged rock under the moniker mercury. Since 2022, she’s released a series of promising singles, including “Justin’s Headed Out” from a few months ago. This week, she returned with another walloping track, which is fittingly called “Heaven.”
For “Heaven,” Kerr teamed up with sensational producer Alex Farrar, who’s worked with Wednesday, Squirrel Flower, Hurray For The Riff Raff, Truth Club, MJ Lenderman, and Merce Lemon to name a few. “Heaven” is a gloriously stormy single that wrestles with letting go of the past — some good things only live in our memories, or maybe they weren’t that good to begin with. “Try, try to forget/ How it felt like heaven,” Kerr sings before the chorus breaks through. Distorted guitar strums rain down like vicious lightning strikes. The background sounds a bit muddied, but Kerr’s vocals shine through like forsaken high beams.
mercury shared some insight on the single:
“Heaven” is about having a hard time leaving things in the past. It’s about wanting to move on but at the same time, not being able to stop thinking about all of the good things you had with the people, person or place you’re trying to move away from. It’s my effort to capture the feeling of throwing your hands up and surrendering to the outcome, but not being able to get out of its grasp. The world keeps on spinning and the feeling never goes away.
Listen below.
