Oh Mercy

Australian outfit Oh Mercy drew both their name and their folk-infused rock sound from Bob Dylan’s twenty-sixth studio album. High-school friends Alexander Gow and Thomas Savage formed the band in Melbourne, and their profile rose sharply after they won the 2007 Victoria heat of the Triple J Unearthed contest, which supplied opening acts for the Big Day Out festival. Their debut EP, In the Nude for Love, appeared in 2009, securing steady Triple J airplay and favorable notices for its distinctive blend of indie pop and classic rock. A few months afterward the group issued their self-recorded first album, Privileged Woes, then spent the next eighteen months on the road, including a support run with Crowded House and a first U.S. appearance at the 2010 South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas.

The relentless schedule prompted Thomas Savage to leave the band several months before sessions began for the follow-up, 2011’s Great Barrier Grief. Although Alexander Gow assumed primary songwriting duties, Savage still contributed guitar and co-writing credits on several tracks. The album earned an ARIA Award nomination for Best Breakthrough Album. In early 2012 the band wrapped an extensive U.S. tour in Portland, Oregon, before entering the studio to cut their third record, Deep Heat. Producer Burke Reid, known for his work with Liam Finn and Holly Throsby, reshaped songs Gow had first sketched on piano, steering the group toward previously unexplored territory. By folding reggae and funk elements into Gow’s timeless melodies, Deep Heat expanded the band’s already adventurous approach to rock.

Over the following years Gow divided time between the U.S. and Australia, developing the songs that became the quartet’s fourth album, 2015’s When We Talk About Love.