Liam Merrigan: “Broke Beyond Tomorrow” – a high sense of life and perception

Liam Merrigan is 29 year old singer-songwriter from Kintbury Berkshire UK. The 10 track album of original songs, “Broke Beyond Tomorrow” deals with Liam life experiences – either lived first hand or witnessed. I enjoyed the intimate nature of the recording, which sounds as if Merrigan was playing a beat old guitar on a stool 10 feet in front of you. Totally stripped down, this album demonstrates the great craft of the songs, as well as Liam’s expressive voice, and of course his acoustic guitar. Liam is the English equivalent of rejuvenated Neil Young in his observational skills.

Liam Merrigan puzzles and enchants, menaces and soothes, and probably remains an enigma far too slippery to attract anything larger than a devoted cult following for now. Throughout, the fundaments of his persona and his uncompromising musical nature – No punches are pulled, no concessions are made, no fabulous makeovers to appease the masses. To be a Merrigan fan is to take him as he is and expect nothing else.

The vocals of Liam Merrigan are addictively listenable across the LP, it seems like he knows what he needs to do vocally and doesn’t go overboard with wasted notes and nuances. Exaggerations aside, one thing must be said: this guy knows how to write a good song. Never mind the arguments about having glossy production or bells and whistles. His music is not about making comparisons, it’s about being comprehended.

And when it comes to Merrigan, that doesn’t take a lot of effort from the listener. You just need a few verses, some seconds of music and you’ll get it. Simply because between the pure acoustic music and lyrical storytelling there is nothing else to distract the listener. This is folk music the way the old school singer-songwriters used to do.

His songs can be simple as hell and still mean a lot (and most of the time they do). That also makes the task of pointing out his best or most accomplished songs a little bit hard. But in the end, it all depends on your personal taste as a listener, because the consistence of Liam Merrigan’s universal approach remains intact.

Liam has something that is inherent only to those with a high sense of life and perception. He seems to understand you as much as you will probably understand him, and that is what makes a songwriter so relatable and respected. His experiences are more than likely the same as yours. And that’s what he sings about.

If you can’t relate to standout songs like “Memory of You”, “Far Too Long”,  “All These Things My Father Said” or “Girl With No Name”, well then frankly, you haven’t lived long enough…or maybe not at all! Liam Merrigan’s songs have many layers to them in which he conveys so much feeling.

Being rough raw and to the bone, he doesn’t have the most radio-friendly sound; But nothing beats the emotional connections of a songwriter singing and playing his own work in the most unpretentious way. This guy has a homespun originality to him that’s hard to come across.

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