After the release of their debut album “Iridescence” in November of last year, Mermaid, the alternative R&B duo of Brittany Campbell and Candace Quarrels, began their Pacific Northwest tour in May. Their first show was in Portland on May 16, and the tour will consist of four other stops in Vancouver, Seattle, Bend and San Francisco where they will showcase their vibrant album. “Iridescence” is infused with all styles of music, including soul and R&B with touches of alt-rock, jazz, punk and pop with the harmony of Campbell and Quarrels.
Currently based in Los Angeles, the duo originally met in Chicago while both working on the Broadway show “Hamilton” as the Schuyler Sisters. Quarrels worked on the show for two and a half years and Campbell worked on it for about a year and a half before they began to explore their passion for music.
“I realized in rehearsal that Candace and I’s voices blended oddly well together so I asked her if she’d be down to sing some background vocals. Then we just formed a really fast-paced, sort of beautiful friendship,” Campbell said. “We would sing all the time in the hallways and our cast members would be like, ‘you guys sound so great together,’ and one of the members of the cast said, ‘you sound just like mermaids,’ so we were like, ‘oh we’ll take that.’”
Once moving to LA, Mermaid bounced around between a few producers until they found Sam Hoffman, and with him they developed their sound. The duo originally started in the folk and acoustic direction, but with their love for all kinds of music, they soon switched gears and started exploring other genres.
“I think part of expressing ourselves through the different genres was to also reach out across different cultures and speak to different kinds of people,” Campbell said. “We discovered sort of midway through the album how much we liked rock music, especially punk music, and so Candace bought me a drum set and that changed the sound and sort of sparked the impulse that came up between us.”
After their show in Portland, Mermaid is thrilled to return to Bend and connect with the small town and community they fell in love with. They will be joined by many artists including local artist Morgan Reese, whom they met in LA a few months ago, and Danielle Lande.
“The most special part is gonna be the local artists. We’ve done some good research and made an effort to find people whose music we like and who we dig as humans,” Quarrels said. “I feel like whatever vibe that person brings to the show will be so heavily influenced, and us too, and something about the connection of this tour feels really special.”
Their debut album consists of 13 tracks, each featuring a unique blend of styles. It took the duo over three years to complete the album, which allowed them to unravel their musical taste and bring audiences a passionate project. When listening to the genre-rich and harmonious album, audiences can expect, “A lot of different colors and a deep tale of love and all the things that come with that,” Quarrels said. “It’s just a fun, cathartic and vulnerable ass time where you’ll shed some tears listening to it.”
After their tour through the Pacific Northwest, Campbell and Quarrels plan to return to LA to make more music and collaborate with artists like Bella Porter and Waves. They also plan to continue to expand upon their genre blending with a second album in the near future.
“Our goal is to grow our audiences and because we do so many genres, I think there’s a great opportunity to reach out to people in the different realms and see what we can create,” Campbell said. “We’re gonna be patient with our new project, but it’s honestly all about connecting with some other folk.”
