Matthew Mercury

When Ezra Oklan (Nicole Atkins, Ambulance Ltd, Dwight & Nicole) began writing songs almost a decade ago, he simply felt a calling to pay homage to the lost art of eighties synth-pop; shining a light on an era of music that he, and many others, had built careers upon, yet had fallen by the wayside in an age of electronic ease.

Over the years, as Oklan tried to pinpoint the location of the intersection where desire meets demand, the faint whisper inside of him that sounds reminiscent of Springsteen accented with pangs of Morrissey slowly gained voice enough to reach the point of persuasion.

It was at that point that Matthew Mercury was born. As new members with storied pasts of their own — the likes of Steve Hadeka, Christopher Hawthorne, Jeremy Mendicino and Dan Bishop — joined arms with Ezra, the sound quickly evolved with inspiration borrowed everywhere from Bowie to the Pixies, Joy Division to Television, and Interpol to the Strokes with a little bit of Pulp.