Maybe it’s my growing but futile desire to ignore summer’s celerity that is making me feel more and more like autumn is looking over my shoulder. Or it might have to do with Three Thousand Days, progressive-folk band Mercies’ debut LP. After listening to this album I realized it has all the elements to score Autumn’s blossom: a warm airy ambiance that peaks and collapses through their own brand of haunting harmonies and natural sounding guitar work. Their capricious sound creates moments of melancholy followed by stretches of bittersweet clarity as Mercies poses thought-provoking questions and emotions that leaves the listener feeling like the leaves should be turning colors any minute.

Three Thousand Days is an artistic expression of change, transition, and ends. It reveals a period of time in my life and the emotions born from it," said Josh Rheault, former member of the band The Dear Hunter, an indie prog-rock band from Providence, Rhode Island. The meaningful yet pleasingly ambiguous lyrics are complemented by a clash of folk, and the textual spacey, and at times heavy, guitar work that made The Dear Hunter such a big success in their respective scene. Clashing folk with modern progressive rock is a recipe for disaster but tracks such as the four and half minute Roads, prove that it can be done and done well. For the first half, Josh and the other half of Mercies, Sammy Dent, belt out pure emotion as a precursor to a two-minute instrumental outro that grooves, wails, and entrances.

With such a unique and pleasurably clashing sound, this album is sure to propel these guys into a scene they’ll have to fight to win over. However, that is the greatest part about finding an upcoming band like this. I’ll be cheering for these guys every step of the way, and after a good listen you’ll understand why. If you’re in the NYC area on August 31st, make sure to head out to Union Pool in Brooklyn to see Mercies play live! - Michael Giordano