Have Mercy / Somos Split
Have Mercy/Somos / Have Mercy/Somos / 2015 / NSR143
After seeing Somos for my first time open for Into It. Over It. back in 2014 at the Steel Stacks in Bethlehem, Temple of Plenty was immediately added to my iTunes library. I got so addicted to that album that summer it’s about all I would play in my house and car, especially the first three tracks Familiar Theme, Domestic, and Dead Wrong (I have yet to find a copy of this for the collection). A few months later I saw No Sleep Records drop a preorder for a seven inch split between Somos and Have Mercy. It was an impulsive, no-brainer buy for me considering these were two bands I was obsessed with at that moment in time.
Have Mercy’s first track is a live recording from the Nile Theatre (right where I’m at in Mesa, AZ!) of Two Years, the lead single off their second LP, A Place of Our Own. It’s an intimate breakdown of Brian’s typical raucous showing on the studio recording. And the capture from the theatre is crispy clean - props to the audio engineers. The song is immensely relatable - “Cause I had a life and I had friends. And I miss all of them, I miss all of them”. Swindle’s second track choice on the split is a cover of Jackson Browne’s Somebody’s Baby, something I certainly wasn’t expecting. And you know what? It’s actually pretty damn good. It’s a straight punk rock version of the forever classic 1982 radio hit. Flipping over to side B, Somos goes off. New single Streets Upon Streets is an absolute fire track. Justin and Phil’s spacey and driven guitar parts coincide so well. But the real charm of this song lies in the rhythm section. Evan’s beats across the kit pair up with Michael’s incredible bass parts and it’s so tight. It’s these featured bass lines from Florentino that really sets Somos apart from other emo bands. Streets Upon Streets resumes with the maturity and sad realities found in Temple of Plenty alongside the catchiness - “It’s a fine line, fine line. I’m sure we’d have a fine time. But there’s a fine line between adoration and dispossession”. Second track is an acoustic rendition of Domestic off Temple of Plenty. It’s a dark song that translates really well unplugged. Michael’s deep voice comes across great here with guest vocalist Dana Osterling. Both of these tracks are so well written that they will be stuck in your head for the rest of the day after a listen.
Have Mercy is Brian Swindle, Nick Woolford, Todd Wallace, and Andrew Johnson from Baltimore, Maryland. Nick Tantillo and Rob Dinuto of The Mantooth Group tracked Two Years at the Nile Theatre. Paul Leavitt recorded Somebody’s Baby. Somos is Michael Florentino, Phil Haggerty, Justin Hahn, and Evan Deges from Boston, Massachusetts. Streets Upon Streets and Domestic were produced and recorded by Jay Maas. The modular artwork and layout was designed by T.J. Kelley III.
