William Merriman has been behind the quietly sophisticated Dublin band The Harvest Ministers for some thirty years now. Even though it doesn’t seem that the band’s name has reached many other quarters of the world, such long-lasting stand speaks a lot about the quality of their music.
The published music, albums, ep’s or otherwise seems to come in spurts. The last time Merriman, his co-vocalist Maeve Roche and the group were heard of was three years ago when their anthology, You Can See Everything From Here came out, and now here comes a fresh batch of songs, aptly titled Back To Harbour.
I guess only the initiated were eagerly awaiting for Merriman to be back, but who ever did wait should know it was worth the time. The crew on this album, along with Merriman and Roche includes the keyboardist Andy Fitzpatrick, drummer Jamie Alegre and bassist Matthew Basile. Ok, none are household names among the music fans, but along with the key duo, they definitely should be.
The main man in the whole story is Merriman and his quite sublime songwriting. If you were ever searching of a cross between The Go-Betweens in their heyday era and earlier versions of Paddy McAloon of Prefab Sprout, both musically and lyrically, here you have it.
The moment Merriman starts to sing: “You may get back to the harbour/but you will never get back to the sea”, in the opening title track with its strumming acoustic guitar, organ and backing strings, you know you’re in for a treat.
Will Merriman might not be a widely known name, but by the evidence of this album, he is a truly accomplished songwriter. With his somewhat frail voice (not too far away from that of Grant McLennan of The Go-Betweens) he can really deliver engaging and truly enjoyable songs that have more to do with a string-backed Americana than anything Celtic. The lyrics are a treat to themselves. Just pay a bit of a closer attention to, for example’ “If It Kills Me And It Will” or “All The Woman (I Ever Wanted To Know)”.
The Harvest Ministers might not be garnered much success in their thirty years of existence, but with Back To The Harbour they have come up with a bumper crop of good music. Time for them to be more widely recognized.
