Adored by Coldplay, signed by Grönemeyer, of great class: perfect, innovative pop that seems to come from far away.

Visions 03/06

Merz is back. But it's not the first time: British songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Conrad Lambert released his debut album under the stage name Merz in 1999. It was critically acclaimed and made it to the stage at the Glastonbury Festival and "Top of the Pops". In order to escape the hype and his major record deal, however, Conrad disappeared completely from the scene shortly afterwards. He didn't return until 2006 with the highly acclaimed album "Loveheart".

Now Merz has completed his third equally promising album “Moi et Mon Camion”. With beautiful ballads, profound melodies and elaborate production and instrumentation.

Conrad has traveled a lot in recent years: he traveled around England, toured Europe with "Loveheart" and the British-American band The Earlies, and played at a variety of festivals around the world: at the Green Man in Wales, the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, and the SXSW in Texas. The new album was also created on the road: while he was working on "Moi et Mon Camion," Conrad moved several times - from Bristol to Plymouth and finally to Bath.

Merz’s new album is a fabulous freethinker’s high mass.

Musikexpress 03/06

This restlessness is reflected on “Moi et Mon Camion”: Named after a shipping company that has organized several moves for Conrad, the record begins with the sound of a truck being loaded and driving away.

Consequently, the album was recorded in a variety of locations: from Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios near Bath to Rockfield Studios in Wales, in Conrad's native Yorkshire and even out in the woods. "I recorded a verse for 'No Bells Left To Chime' on a small tape recorder while I was walking through the woods. I got the idea from the roving TV presenters on shows about the coast or the history of Britain. We decided to record the album in unusual locations to give each individual song more soul."

To enhance this mood, Conrad brought in a very special guest singer: "I wanted a singer who sounded like an old man. I told Bruno Ellingham, who produced the album, and he said: how about the old man from Bath? It turned out he was an unemployed actor who lived in a boarding house in the city. We brought him in and although it was impossible to get him to sing the same tune twice, he ended up on three songs."

Merz becomes great when the straightforward pop songs clash with unusually phrased vocals and opposing, bizarre synth sounds.

Intro 04/06

One of these songs is the opener "Eviction Song": With his poignant, deep voice, the old man adds a whole new level of meaning to the song about Conrad's recent move. And in "No Bells Left To Chime" he even imitates a vocoder. "I had never heard anything like what suddenly came out of him, and I probably never will again," Conrad recalls.

For his third album, he has also teamed up with some remarkable musicians: Charlie Jones, former bassist for Goldfrapp, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, and drummer Clive Deamer, who has played for Portishead and Roni Size. The Earlies also make a guest appearance: on the way back from Glastonbury, they sang the backing vocals for "Call Me".

Conrad co-wrote the song "Malcolm" and the multi-layered wonder "Shun" with Paul Hartnoll of Orbital. "I tried to create a balance of acoustic and electronic sounds on the album," says Conrad, "and had the idea of ​​asking Paul if he would collaborate with me on a few songs, which he did. I knew our collaboration would fit in with a Merz record because there are already links in what I do that go back to Orbital."

Perhaps the most beautiful thing about 'Loveheart' is the realisation that introspection does not necessarily produce hate and loathing and the resurrection of Biedermeier

Spex 03/06

But working with Paul Hartnoll was also meant to make "Moi and Mon Camion" a very English album, explains Conrad. "I think it's English in many ways: the lyrics, the sound, the mood. What I've always liked about Orbital is that their music has a typically British feel to it." The same is true of "Malcolm", a West Yorkshire anthem that tells the story of an eccentric philosopher whose thoughts drift between reality and fiction. Conrad and Paul have brought in flugelhorn player John Doyle, who plays in one of England's most important brass bands, the Black Dyke Mills Band, and who claims to have been poached by the Grimethorpe Collery Band, who appear in the film "Brassed Off". It doesn't get more English than that!

While "Loveheart" was more of a lonely and solitary affair, "Moi and Mon Camion" is compassionate and confident. "That is the spirit of this album: it is about uprooting and detachment from the world, humanity and togetherness."