Merzhin

Celtic rockers Merzhin shaped in Landerneau, France, in 1996 — college friends Pierre Le Bourdonnec (vocals), Stéphane Omnes (guitar), Vincent L’Hour (classical guitar), Damien Le Bras (bass), reedist Ludovic Berrou, and drummer Mathieu Person named the group honoring the Breton name from the famous Arthurian magician Merlin, so when traditional Celtic instruments just like the bombarde (a kind of flute) begun to dominate the band’s otherworldly sound, the moniker demonstrated increasingly apt. In 1998 Merzhin self-released 200 copies of the self-titled debut EP, funded partly with the Landerneau membership Le Spleen. Despite its limited discharge, the disk piqued the eye from the BMG affiliate marketer Stormy Music, which released the 1999 follow-up, Première Lune. Merzhin’s initial full-length work, Pleine Lune, strike retail in 2000. Their 2002 sophomore work, Adrénaline, demonstrated accurate to its name, abandoning a lot of the overt mysticism of prior releases and only straight-ahead alternative rock and roll. A long innovative hiatus followed, where time Person still left the group in 2005. After adding brand-new drummer Christophe Rossini dit Tof, Merzhin finished 2006’s Pieds Nus sur la Braise.