Album Review: Merpire – Milk Pool (2025 LP)

Merpire Milk pool

Following the success of 2021’s Simulation Ride, Melbourne/Naarm-based artist Merpire (Rhiannon Atkinson-Howatt) returns with Milk Pool. Across eleven tracks, she leans into themes of longing, intimacy, and self-worth. Moments of quiet vulnerability meet fuzzy distortion, holding tension between softness and grit. Sometimes beautifully, sometimes unevenly, but always with sincerity.

Opening track “Leaving With You” immediately throws convention out the window. From the outset, a jarring, jangly, dissonant guitar riff sets the stage for the record’s volatility. The thump of guitars and drums gives way to Howatt’s airy vocals in an angelic pre-chorus, before the track bursts into a fuzzy, crashing chorus.

Breezing by on the catchy lines “I only stay in the hope of leaving with you / I run away with the thought of it coming true,” the track feels like it’s burning from the inside out by the time the guitar solo kicks in. Interestingly, it ends not with a bang, but a soft refrain, hinting at a more stripped-back version that allows Howatt’s voice to shine.

“Premonition” opens with pulsing synths and a nostalgic, ‘80s-tinged motif, all held together by a thumping bass line. The pre-chorus climbs with a sense of desperation before the chorus delivers one of the most memorable melodic uses of the word fuck in recent memory. It’s a track full of desire, fear, and longing, with a mantra-like hook that lingers.

“Bigger” keeps the pulse going with frank, intimate lyrics. There’s a blend of laid-bare sexual longing and real songwriting vulnerability. Lines like “With your fingers in my mouth and when I stopped you going south…” are raw and revealing, but the track’s structure feels slightly overstretched. The groovy backbeat coasts on its lyrical boldness without quite evolving to match.

Instead of the thrill of imagined sexual endeavours, “Rosanna” shifts gears lyrically, dwelling on the inevitable ending of a relationship already crumbling. Meanwhile, “Cinnamon” delivers one of the most quietly affecting moments on the album.

It’s the first clear detour from the record’s band-driven backbone, moving toward something gentler and more acoustic. Built around scent memory (an under-utilised emotional trigger, in my opinion), it’s a standout. The opening lyrics “Who’s cooking with cinnamon? / I smell it on the air / It’s a hug in the kitchen / Careful when you inhale / It’ll choke you up”, preface the delicate, observational writing that follows. Merpire’s voice sits right at the front of the mix, and in this scaled-back space, she seems most at home.

“fig.8” opens with an acoustic indie-folk moment before delivering a punchy, radio-ready chorus, while “Canines” slides into a subtly bruising track that highlights Merpire’s songwriting abilities. “Fishing” kicks the door back open with a Ramones-meets-Blondie punk edge. Its big, sparkling chorus and crunching guitars feel like an adrenaline shot in the final sprint of the album.

One of the most curious turns arrives with “Retriever,” a suburban fever dream set to a Smashing Pumpkins-style backdrop. “A golden retriever and a freshly cut hedge / Somewhere to play and someone in my bed” captures a warped domestic bliss and a subtle pining for something more. Summed up in the line, “Getting lost in the neighbourhood / And now I’m nostalgic for a place I’ve never been”.

“Internet” slows things down again, this time with a piano ballad. It’s a surprisingly affecting reflection on our fractured digital lives and the revealing questions we whisper to search engines. Surprisingly poetic for a song that fits in the words “internet” and “algorithm” into it, it’s part throwback lounge track, part diary entry confession.

The album concludes with “You Are Loved,” an intimate, room-mic’d track full of the raw sound of fretting hands slipping between chords and the echo of the recording space. It’s the album’s most bare moment, with the repeated line, “I am trying to remember I can be loved.” The phrase lands not as a revelation, but as a necessary reminder that sometimes the journey to believing that truth comes long before the proof.

Final thoughts

Milk Pool isn’t a perfect album. Some tracks feel longer than they need to be, and there are moments where the writing dips a toe into sensuality without fully committing, leaving them feeling slightly coy. But when it hits, it really hits. The best songs showcase Merpire’s ability to write with emotional clarity, building tension and tenderness in equal measure. There’s a nostalgic thread here too. A touch of ‘90s indie and alt-rock woven through the fabric adds warmth and character without slipping into pastiche.

Milk Pool is a rewarding listen. It’s a record for anyone trying to figure themselves out in real time. A mixture of desire, doubt, and softness, it’s romantic, vulnerable, and occasionally brutal. It also proves that sometimes bearing your soul is the loudest thing you do. I’m still not really sure what a Milk Pool is, but you should definitely dive in.

THREE AND A HALF STARS (OUT OF FIVE)

Milk Pool is out today. Grab a copy HERE

Merpire Album Tour

Friday 15 August – The Junk Bar, Ashgrove | Brisbane, QLD TICKETS
Saturday 16August – Lazy Thinking, Dulwich Hill | Sydney, NSW TICKETS
Sunday 17 August – Smiths Alternative, Canberra | Canberra, ACT TICKETS
Thursday 21 August The Merri Creek Tavern, Northcote | Melbourne, VIC – TICKETS *sold out*
Thursday 28 August– The Merri Creek Tavern | Melbourne, VIC   TICKETS *sold out* 

Header image credit: Rick Clifford