Natalie Bergman - Mercy (2021) [Official Digital Download]

From this first solo album that she wrote, performed, recorded and produced almost alone, Natalie Bergman imposed her world on the world! Because Mercy is a universe in its own right. Twelve singular and spiritual songs haunted by death and resurrection, carried as much by her elastic voice as by a vintage musical halo of a bygone era … Natalie Bergman had so far spent a decade singing a duet with her brother Elliot at the breast. by Wild Belle, an LA-based duo focused on pop, reggae, ska and psychedelia. This life fell apart the day his father and mother-in-law were killed by a drunk driver. Raised in a strong faith, Natalie decides to retire to a monastery in the Chama Valley in New Mexico. This is where Mercy was born, an obviously cathartic record, nestled in the essence of gospel which she says is the true source of rock'n'roll. A unique and timeless work that has its own unique way of praising the sacred and healing nature of music. “My faith and my music are essential to my existence. I sing the "home" a lot on this album. My paradise, my sky. Believing in this place has been my greatest comfort. I had a need to know that my father was there. His sudden death was a swirling chaos that assailed my mind. Gospel gives me hope. This is the good news. This is exemplary. It can bring you the truth. It can keep you alive. This album gave me the only hope of coming back to life on my own. "

This return to the living through gospel is fascinating because it never sinks into the opus for giant clam frog. It even goes beyond the framework of faith. In its sounds and instrumentation which owe as much to fifties rock as to sixties soul or highlife from West Africa, Mercy is a work that smells of musical culture without ever bringing it back. No wonder Natalie Bergman grew up in a house where Dylan and Etta James' albums resonated as well as Pharoah Sanders, Lou Reed, Alton Ellis and Lucinda Williams. And just as logical that a scholar like Jack White signed him to his label Third Man Records, a house of taste whose tenants never forget to look in the retro … Death changed his life; her music can change yours: Natalie Bergman is a gift from heaven.