Music Industry News

Mercury Fèng (rhymes with song) returns with a new music video about corporate escapism via karaoke dreaming for single ‘Heaving’.

‘Heaving’ offers a hazy, saturated reflection of living between two disparate worlds. Filmed by visual artist Ted Whitaker, viewers are introduced to Office Woman – a corporate worker, typing away at a shabby computer. Enduring phone calls from management with cheap instant coffee, she longs to be somewhere else. Somewhere else sticky and laser-lit; it’s a karaoke room, where she finds herself. Over the course of a night, Office Woman is joined by drunk colleagues, an enclave of stoic goths and an overly-amorous couple. A flirty, aloof Mercury Fèng can be glimpsed guiding viewers from inside the karaoke machine, while Office Woman sings (yearns) from outside.
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For Lucy Beeler, the artist embodying Mercury Fèng, the video feels largely autobiographical. Having spent the last eight years working an office job while studying law, Lucy felt frustrated at not having the time and emotional space to focus on music. She explained, “I wanted to express being stuck in one state of being and yearning to be in another. I had this half-formed video concept in my head for many years, but it wasn’t until this year that I found the courage and support to make it happen.”
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In April this year, under the old moniker Fèng, the Pōneke-based artist released the album archive for humble stones. Under the Radar called it “a masterclass in emotionally transportive ‘personal pop’ dreaminess”. ‘Heaving’ is the dreamy third single from the album, where lush vintage drum machines dance with resonant guitars and Beeler’s gossamer tones describe the ephemerality of desire. “Hearts beat heaving to the sound of time, but it’s only a blink of an eye”.
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The song speaks to one desire while the video speaks to another; the desire for transformation. Clearly embodied by Lucy’s dual performance as Office Woman/Mercury Fèng, they explain, “’Heaving’ is essentially a conversation between my lived-in past, my realised present self and my envisioned future. I am excited to continue transforming and experience the unknown.”

Check out all things Mercury Fèng below:
Bandcamp
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YouTube

Lucy 小凤 (Xiao Fèng) Beeler is the artist behind alter ego Mercury Fèng. Lucy seeks to connect with audiences by intimately weaving together threads of pop, yearning and introspection with shimmery synths, fuzz-laced guitars and dreamy vocals.

Lucy previously released music and performed as Lttle Phnx, under the now defunct cult label Crystal Magic Records. Lucy has toured nationally and internationally, and has supported artists such as Gary Numan and Princess Chelsea.