Singer / songwriter Jason Merritt is part of the New York americas group Timesbold in daily life, but also regularly tours alone under the name Whip. Blues For Losers is the somewhat tragicomic title of his second album, which he recorded mainly with the help of Tony San Marco. Both are responsible for a range from obscure to traditional instrumentation with which predominantly sound carpets were
… placed under Whips acoustic songs. With those songs, Whip is somewhere between Johnny Cash and Will Oldham. Merritt does not seem ready to accommodate his intended losers / listeners and sings them with a sonorous, slightly vibrating voice in eleven dark narratives rife with cynicism and Biblical jargon. Blues For Losers thus became a very dark Americana record where, as said, as a loser not getting better, but with which you can lose yourself in someone else's misery for a while. Whip's moody misery. (MR)more
