It's a cheap hotel, the heat pipes hiss / the bathroom's down the hall, and it smells like piss. It is an illustrative beginning of Mary Gauthier's fourth CD Mercy Now, on which she once again sings about the downside of the American dream. Just like on her first three albums, Gauthier succeeds in portraying a desolate and uninviting atmosphere on Mercy Now. She seems to be proof of the proposition
… that only an artist who has experienced misery herself can sing about such misery, because Gauthier has a history of drug and alcohol abuse before she got her life back on track. What can at least be said of Mary Gauthier is that she is 'real': her lyrics and vocals are pure and unaffected. The collaboration with producer Gurf Morlix, who also produced Filth & Fire, works out very well on Mercy Now, Mary Gauthier has again made a very nice CD. (IV)more