About this Artist

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Editorial Reviews

In a continuation of his first album, Window Rolled Down, Jeff Merchant presents another series of reflections on life in Los Angeles in the present day in your thirties on City Makes No Sound. Again, the arrangements are dream pop soundscapes, set at loping tempos, with an aural sheen to go with Merchant's innocent-sounding tenor as he celebrates the joys of the 99-cent store, but realizes that the fabric of existence is fragile and, perhaps, frayed. Friends have fallen by the wayside already, as the media brays, "Tell us how you feel" (the chorus of "Disturbance Call"). Merchant is heavily influenced by Brian Wilson, not only in his shimmery musical conception, but also in the apparently childlike -- but also somewhat depressed -- nature of his outlook. If there is a development from his first album to this one, it's that he's not quite as sure of the value of opening himself to experience. Even if you have your window rolled down as you sit stuck in traffic on an L.A. freeway, this time the city itself is closed off from you, and by the end of an hourlong set of encounters, Merchant (who also has a band called the Lullabies) is singing "The End Song," beginning, "Close your eyes so we don't have to listen/Shut them tight so we don't have to hear." William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide

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