Far too often, an idol act comes along, releases some stuff, tries to get the world’s attention, and fails, and melts away and is forgotten, sometimes in merely a matter of months.  Usually this is because there was nothing particularly remarkable about them but, frustratingly, sometimes it’s because, despite being objectively sublime, there is seemingly something about them which causes the world to fold its arms and look the other way and say “No! No, I shall not listen!”, no matter how much you point and shout and whoop and holler . And then they’re gone, never to return. Except sometimes, just sometimes – if you’ve been a good little wota and the idol gods notice you – they do!

So yes, this lament with the note of hope at the end means that today has brought the utterly unexpected but extremely welcome news that Merry Merli are to be reborn! There’s not much to go on at the moment – their website and twitter are still gone at the time of writing – but there is this video:

Yes, there’s really not much there but it gets a whole article because Merry Merli were very, very good for a few months in the dim and distant days of 2017 and this time around I beg you all to at least give them a try.

So what are they like? Well they were very stylish first of all. Their lolita fashion style was very much part of their brand, so much so that they ended up recording an album with Aoki Misako, president of the Tokyo Lolita Association. Often groups with a strong sense of style or theme have little of substance when it comes to the music and I certainly didn’t expect much on first seeing their pictures. WRONG!

Often shoegazy…

Sometimes poppy…

Always dreamy.

So I’m very excited to see them back and I hope you are now too.