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Bradley Roger Bauman, the person behind Mercury Teardrop, is a musician and songwriter based in Vancouver, Canada. . While growing up, he embraced a wide range of genres, but Mercury Teardrop sees the convergence of Bauman's influences spanning music from the 70s, 80s and 90s.
He said:"The explosion of electronic music in the early 80s had a huge influence on me. Bands like Depeche Mode, Japan and Talk Talk were creating such amazing sounds so different from the guitar based rock of the 70s, and I took it all in. Its in my DNA"
The roots of Mercury Teardrop are as a guitar player. He was heavily influenced by the heavy sounds of Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath as a kid. When he grew older, he started listening to and appreciated more different genres. Most other music he writes and plays are more Alternative Rock, but the project Mercury Teardrop is an exception. Mercury Teardrop expresses his love for electronic music while decorating the ambiance of the album with lush guitar textures.
Apparttitions Of A Dying Moon is an album that pays homage to synth sounds and textures like early 80s bands. Examples of these bands are Simple Minds, Joy Division, Talk Talk, Japan, Depeche Mode and the Cure. These influences are combined with influences from Ambient Electronica.
Many of his favorite records of the 80s were done live to tape with overdubs here and there. He wanted to capture that same feel on this album, because he knew that the overall feel of the record was not as polished as other artists in this genre. All the takes on the album were live with no loops, except some drums. He chose for this style of recording, because otherwise it would not have the sonic profile he was looking for.
His favorite song on the album is Everlight. It is a bit of a nod to one of his favourite albums of all time, Screamadelica, by Primal Scream. The song came together as a song with two distinct halves, with some disruption in parts and he is very proud of that. He is really happy with the way it came together.
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