Getting To Know Merryn Jeann; On Creative Process and Having Fun

Photos by Elise Abotomey

Meeting outside the small garden cafe in the middle of Hyde Park, Merryn is immediately warm as she greets me on arrival. Instead of facing each other, Merryn requests we sit side-by-side, adding a layer of intimacy to a conversation with the stranger I have only just met. Merryn is an artist unlike one I have ever heard before, sitting in a league of her own as she melds genres, instrumentals and vocals to create music that screams authenticity. Merryn combines theatre and visual art with her sound, elevating the experience of her music to a new level that is introspective, fun and free. Merryn caught up with Pleaser Australia in lieu of her latest work DOG BEACH, a poignant body of work that Merryn pours her life into - all the way down to her dreams. 

PLEASER: I'd love to know if you ever switch off, I feel like you just have so much creativity are you always filtering your life for your creativity?

Merryn: That’s interesting! I just recently got an ADHD diagnosis which was like “woah!” Because it really makes sense in terms of using art as a way to actually look into something and focus. I think although that can be very anxiety inducing, the inspiration I take is just daily life so I think in that aspect I may not be creating all the time but I am absorbing. Now that I’m making my own music videos (which feels like a very honest outlet for me), a lot of it is just footage I’ve collected on my phone and I put it together and the story comes up and it feels like my day to day interaction with living. 

PLEASER: Is it nice to be able to draw your own ideas for music videos that you’re making as opposed to collaborating with someone? Or do you also enjoy that process?

Merryn: I think I do enjoy that process but it's been really nice learning to realise you actually have your own thing and you really enjoy being in control of everything and that’s okay. It’s been really reaffirming for me. 

PLEASER: Talking about your music videos, you have so many fun, playful and kind of silly (but I really like them) videos, have you always been like that or have you become more relaxed over time? 

Merryn: I think with this specific album I’ve really realised my practice and I feel less stressed thinking about how I need to do things. With these music videos they often come together in two hours. It's been quite liberating to accept that’s how I function in that space. I think I’m less serious and less attached in a way. This album is interesting because it's the first album I feel is a real honest expression of myself in terms of there being the silliness and this more emotional side. That was the focus of prior albums (the more emotional side) and at the time it felt really mature but in hindsight maybe I was just too attached in expressing the moodiness of the dark things rather than being like “who cares” you know. Everything I’m making around this album feels quite free, which I think is how I work the best. 

I really am shedding giving a fuck what people think (laughs) , the more I think about the people, the personalities, the characters, the artists that really touch me are the ones who say “I’m weird and I’m embracing this because I have to” and I think I’m also weird and I need to vibe with that. 

Weirdos are good! 

PLEASER: I also read that some of your music comes to you in dreams, can you talk to me about that a little bit? 

Merryn: More and more over the last few years I’ve been remembering my dreams quite vividly, I went through a stage of writing them down every morning and I really loved that. I woke up quite a bit and my physical energy had been affected from my dreams and really feeling like I just experienced something, by writing them out they came into focus more. 

The song ‘Subconscious Love Connections’ I had dreamt of my friend and then I woke up and she had texted me whilst I had dreamt of her so it was less so I had the song or the music in the dream and more that it was the catalyst for the song. The song title ‘Subconscious Love Connections' is quite literal and that kind of experience that we can have with each other is the same kind we get from absorbing art and listening to music and it's inexplicable but it's definitely there. 

I think dreams can give you a lot of scope on your reality its a real deep processing of what’s going on in this gorgeous mind and often I’ve woken up from dreams like “I should deal with that issue” and it looks like a non reality like a weird abstract landscape but I know exactly what’s going on. 

PLEASER: I’ve asked a lot of serious questions but I have a few that are just a bit lighter. What’s one thing you do on a regular basis that is putting yourself first? You have the song ‘ME B4 U’ so how are you putting yourself before others?

Merryn: It’s something I find really hard to do. This album was something that was really helping me really understand that as a concept, I’ve been a mad people pleaser so I think it's a real issue for me. Again, with ADHD it's such a struggle for me to find something that I can do everyday for anything so something like that is a big thing to think about. Anytime I make art and I tap out from everything else I feel like yes this is for myself. 

PLEASER: If you were a dog on a beach, what kind of dog would you be?

Merryn: I think i’d be a small scruffy dog, like cute but a bit scruffy maybe missing a name or something. I love names like Bruce for a dog- those straight white male names. 

PLEASER: You’ve put all your love into this new album - what does the future hold? 

Merryn: I will see! This album has given me permission to learn to really trust myself. I’m hoping with the live shows I’m about to play in Europe that I’m really going to discover myself more as a performer, I think my performing will go into different directions, I started to add more of a theatrical element to my solo show which is really cool for me because I think I’ve always wanted to do that. I went to art school for a semester in Melbourne. I came out of it starting to see music through the lens I’ve always seen it through but not being able to kind of verbalise, for me music is just a total expression. 

PLEASER: Adding more theatrical elements to the performance - that’s really brave! 

Merryn: It feels like a bravery thing. It's been good! There’s this piece that I do called “Why Can Everything Be Such A Big Deal” and I sit at the front of the stage and I’m moving around listing things for five minutes and then I just stand up and go into something else. My goal is to bring weird, genuine things into a mainstream audience.