Written by Joy Elizabeth | Photo Courtesy of Mold Gold

There is a quiet assurance in Mold Gold’s I’m Sorry I Dropped You As A Baby. The LP, from the project founded by St. Louis-based songwriter, Mere Harrach, is full of sprawling instrumentals (à la cello) and hypnotic electronica pads. What is born from the unlikely match is a tone both warm and pristine. Harrach’s voice, unassuming and sweet, envelops the listener in a near-whisper. 

I sat down with Mere to discuss some of my favorite tracks, the DIY scene in St. Louis, and the inner-workings of the entirely self-composed album. 

With an album title as visceral and striking as I’m Sorry I Dropped You As A Baby, we have to touch on it. Where did the sentiment come from?

The album title broadly comes from the feeling of the anxiety of letting something important to you, that you feel responsible for, slip out of your hands. When it came to me, I was thinking about my tendency to get over-committed with projects and ideas that I feel really excited about, and in doing that, I end up neglecting some friendships and obligations that feel equally important because I get pulled in all directions. Especially when it comes to corresponding and replying to texts, I’ll mean to get back to someone and two weeks have gone by and it’ll hit me, oh shit. The balance is delicate and it feels really bad to do that, like dropping a baby. I haven’t actually dropped any literal babies but my friend Nicholas who’s a father of a new baby told me it makes him feel really terrible thinking about the album name so I’ll apologize for the imagery, haha. 

The electronica effects on “Emphatic” are stark against the acoustic guitars and mellow vocals, showing us this isn’t going to be a traditional singer/songwriter record. Where does that modernized sound intersect with the folk foundation of the project?

Mold Gold is largely a mostly-solo recording project for me, so I like layering fun synth & drum machine textures in the tracks. When I play live I’m often just playing acoustic guitar and singing, though occasionally I’ve had friends join in on live sets, too, but the arrangements are still not true to the tracks. This project feels particularly inspired by artists like Chris Weisman, Lomelda, and local musician Zak M’s music, so I’m definitely drawing a bit of influence from how they record and arrange.

Dub effects on “Yellow” are perhaps even more surprising, but elevate the sound and make it more robust. 

Thank you, I almost swapped that beat out for something simpler but a friend told me to stick with it & I’m glad I did. 

The cello adds a cinematic air to Mold Gold, sweeping in “Bloomed” beneath the verses and giving a sense of unease in “Indigo Blue Bunting.” Who are your biggest classical influences? 

For classical string writing, I really like Shostakovich & Schubert. In the world of contemporary composition, I love how Caroline Shaw can take a theme that feels old and classic & arrange it in a way that disrupts & reinvigorates. I would be remiss to not mention how important Arthur Russell and Abdul Wadud are to me, too.

You’re a St. Louis-based project. How has the local music scene supported your work? 

I’ve been in St. Louis for a little over four years now & feel so at home here. To me there is no better place to land. The scene is big enough that there are a lot of different creative pockets & so many inventive and talented friends to draw inspiration from but small enough that there’s a lot of genre overlap & the communities feel tightly knit. On the regular you’ll have folk artists playing with punks playing with noise artists, playing with poets, etc all on the same bill. You really get to know people this way too, and you open your heart to a lot of different experiences. Because of this overlap, I’m lucky to have collaborated with so many friends in several projects outside of Mold Gold. There are really too many friends’ projects I want to recognize in this interview but to name just a few who blow me away every time, I would recommend checking out Kids, Sloopy McCoy, American Beautifulness, Dee Bird, and Goo Man if you get the chance to. Also if you’re ever in St. Louis, take a peek at stlshowpage.com to find out where to go. 

“Mississippi Kite” almost plays like a lullaby. Was this intentional (potentially alluding to album title)?

Hmm… I hadn’t thought of it as a lullaby but that’s sweet! I should give a shout out, I stole the lyric “nude with anything” from the title of Jamie D’Agostino’s poetry book of the same name. I don’t think I have his phone number anymore, so if you read this thank you for the borrowed line Jamie!

How was your string of shows back in the fall? 

It was fantastic! I’d never been to several of the cities Harrison (Riddle M) & I ended up playing on the east coast but it was a treat to hear so many sick musicians and meet so many lovely people. It was my first time playing with many of the artists we met but I especially loved getting to hear imy3 from Philadelphia and Jacob King of T.T.T.T. in Buffalo. 

”Tell me what’s so wrong with wearing my heart on my sleeve?” The question is begged in “Vulture,” an emblem of the type of vulnerability felt lyrically and sonically throughout Mold Gold’s discography. Where does this intimacy with the listener come from, and is it easy to access when you are writing? 

I have a hard time not writing from life, it’s kind of just what comes out haha. I think that’s important about folk tradition though, even if you’re being poetic and indirect, you can tell when someone’s writing from a place of true feeling and experience. If I’m being honest though, it limits which songs I feel comfortable playing live sometimes. That song “Vulture”, for example, came from a somewhat bitter headspace that I’m not often in the mood to put myself in or bring an audience into.  A poem comes from a moment or era of feeling a certain way too, so it can feel funny writing the song, taking months to work on it, and having a shifted perspective about something once the song is released. 

What can we expect next from Mold Gold? 

I don’t put a lot of pressure on Mold Gold, the songs just kind of happen when they happen. But I do think for whatever I work on next in my solo songwriting, I want to invite more friends in. I should say here though, my other band Piracy is about to release our new album April 1st! Piracy has been a dream to be a part of because of its incredibly collaborative nature; I’d never been part of a group where everyone has an equal hand in writing and our musical chemistry feels so natural and fun. My collaborators Julio, Antonio, and Colin are all incredible musicians and friends, some of the most inspired individuals in St. Louis. You can find the music soon at piracyweb.bandcamp.com.

You can listen to I’m Sorry I Dropped You As A Baby out now.