MNERVA – LOVE SONG

Here at the Send Me Your Ears studio we’ve been listening to Mnerva’s latest single, Love Song, today.

Love Song is a song that delves into self-reflection and discovering feelings and emotions you didn’t realise you were capable of.

Mnerva, also known as Matt Wagner, is a Nashville (US) based artist who is determined to put rock music on the Nashville map and seeks to ensure that around the world, people don’t just associate country music with the infamous city. For a city that is synonymous with country music, this is an exciting challenge and we were keen to hear the results.

Love Song starts with some very gentle piano. As Mnerva’s vocals come in, they definitely have the Nashville country sound. There’s some twang in his voice and the production techniques that have been used all point to modern country music. However, as the song progresses, you get the chance to hear Wagner’s belted rock voice and his power, hints of gravel, and passion come through beautifully. The quality of his falsetto notes is a real joy to listen to as well, and the occasional additional layered vocals and harmonies add some nice touches to fill out the sound.

The full band sound comes in in the second verse and the song takes on a more country/rock feel. We like the use of muted snare in places which makes the brighter snare have far more impact when it comes in.

Love Song is a short song at under 3 minutes long and with a stinger ending this is a track that we believe has potential for airplay in and around Nashville. Perhaps pitching to country and rock college radio stations across the US would garner Mnerva plenty of new fans.

From a production perspective, a couple of EQ cuts at around 500Hz and again at around 700Hz would reduce some ‘honky’ tones in the track. A wide boost across the high-mids and highs centred around 8kHz would add to the brightness and presence in the track too. A light compressor with some make up gain would increase the warmth and volume in the quieter parts and balance the overall volume out a little more.

Love Song by Mnerva is an enjoyable dive into self-reflection. With some powerful modern rock vocals and a catchy hook, this is surely one to win him many new listeners.