A number of our critics’ favorite local albums were written and recorded during the deepest part of the pandemic; these musicians found plenty of material to mine from that time, some of it painful, some of it transcendent
Sai Boddupalli (Courtesy Nick DiNatale)
In the closing moments of Mercet’s “Mirst,” a recording of a man speaking fades into the lush, melancholic harmony of strings. “There are two parts associated with our self beyond the senses: The mind, and the intellect.” He continues: “If the mind is still, the senses are still; if the intellect is still, everything is still.” It’s the voice of Dr. Sekhar Boddupalli, a biochemist, Hindu spiritual leader and father of Sai Boddupalli, the Boston-based multi-instrumentalist and producer who now makes music as Mercet.
Mercet (Courtesy Nick Surette)
“He’s talking about using sound, the sound of religious chanting, or the sound of meditation to still your mind and thoughts and bring you closer to a spiritual objective,” Boddupalli tells me about his father’s appearance on his debut album “VIMS,” a deeply contemplative and emotive body of ambient electronic work released in early April. “I heard that and I thought, �
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