Merlyn is a singer-songwriter, cultural producer, and writer focusing mainly on connections between music and the environment.
Upon completion of his studies in anthropology and ethnomusicology in 2016, Merlyn worked for three years as organiser of the SOAS Concert Series, London. He has since formed the environmentally-focused music exchange programme, Making Tracks, which brings together musicians from the UK and around the world each autumn - mostly by train - to incubate new intercultural and interspecies collaborations.
Merlyn’s passion for the natural world goes back to childhood. Born in Orkney (an archipelago in the north of Scotland), and brought up on a smallholding without electricity and most other modern conveniences, he spent much of his time outdoors and only started attending the local school in his teens. This passion is reflected in all of Merlyn’s work, including his own music, which has been featured across BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4, BBC 6 Music, RTE, and elsewhere. His latest project is a groundbreaking multi-artist album of newly-commissioned music and soundscapes, inspired by one of the UK’s most iconic and endangered birds, the Eurasian curlew. The project was inspired by Merlyn’s memories of curlews calling out in the ‘simmerdim’ - the night-long twilight found in the Northern Isles around midsummer. In collaboration with the RSPB, ‘Simmerdim: Curlew Sounds’ was released in 2022, to widespread critical acclaim from The Guardian, Mojo Magazine, and others.
Merlyn is a regular contributor to Songlines Magazine, and writes elsewhere about music and environmental topics.