Comprised of Southern California natives Scarlet and Geoff, Merlot Embargo was born from a near-fatal car crash, with the duo finding a new creative inspiration as they emerged from that experience. In their music, they take different approaches, arriving at the same cause of inspiring a sense of good in their audience, rooted in self-empowerment. On track towards their second album, they continue to release loving folk atmospheres.
Merlot Embargo’s latest single, ‘All Wrong’ is as emotive and thoughtful as we’ve come to expect, with graceful lead vocals taking a deeper dive into self-image over glowing folk-feel soundscapes. As a rhythmic acoustic guitar pluck leads a delicate and airy piano melody, the track opens with glowing vocals, feeling comforting and understanding in their delivery.
Building in emotion, the track’s burst-into life-moment is more of a subtle bloom, with steady percussion and moving chords gently pushing the melodies along. Truly gentle, more vocal layers make the track even more captivating, never rising above the contemplative tenderness, but lighting a fire in the listener.
The duo comment, “All Wrong is about trying to fit in but feeling like you’re just not fooling anyone. It uses the acting analogy, with the idea of playing to an audience, poorly. But this feeling of masking is so universal; this is just one angle. There are ideas of ADHD/Autism/neurodivergence and trying to sort of fake your way to being “normal”; there are nights with jokes and sets that just don’t land for the comedian.
There’s also the idea that we don’t let people see who we really are. Fear of allowing our faults to be seen is something we all feel.”
Check out ‘All Wrong’ below:
