Sam Mehran ( ; August 17, 1985 – July 28, 2018) was an American-Australian musician, songwriter, and producer who co-founded the

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

band

Test Icicles Test Icicles were a short-lived rock band that formed in England, primarily influenced by post-hardcore, dance-punk and indie rock but containing musical elements from a variety of genres (notably dance, hip hop, crossover thrash, and punk). ...

and later formed the solo projects Matrix Metals and Outer Limits Recordings (OLR). His solo work differed substantially from Test Icicles and was often produced in a

lo-fi Lo-fi (also typeset as lofi or low-fi; short for low fidelity) is a music or production quality in which elements usually regarded as imperfections in the context of a recording or performance are present, sometimes as a deliberate choice. The ...

manner. He received little critical notice in his lifetime, a ''

Dazed Digital ''Dazed'' (''Dazed & Confused'' until February 2014) is a bi-monthly British style magazine founded in 1991. It covers music, fashion, film, art, and literature. Dazed is published by Dazed Media, an independent media group known for producing ...

'' editor commented, however, "Mehran possessed an incomparable talent that belied his relatively low public profile."

Career

Mehran, along with

Rory Attwell Rory Attwell is an English musician, best known for his part in UK punk trio Test Icicles, who formed in 2004 and played a handful of concerts before disbanding on 22 April 2006, after their sold out final show at the Astoria in London. During th ...

, founded Test Icicles in 2004. The band was active until 2006, when it broke up. Mehran began releasing music under the alias Outer Limits Recordings in 2010, which was immediately associated with the era's loose-knit, early

hypnagogic pop Hypnagogic pop (often abbreviated as h-pop) is pop or psychedelic music that evokes cultural memory and nostalgia for the popular entertainment of the past (principally the 1980s). It emerged in the mid to late 2000s as American lo-fi and noise ...

and

chillwave Chillwave (originally considered synonymous with glo-fi and hypnagogic pop) is a music microgenre that emerged in the late 2000s. It loosely emulates 1980s electropop while engaging with notions of memory and nostalgia. Common features inclu ...

scene. He described himself being influenced mostly by

Ariel Pink Ariel Marcus Rosenberg ( ; born June 24, 1978), professionally known as Ariel Pink, is an American musician, singer, and songwriter whose work draws heavily from the popular music of the 1960s–1980s. His lo-fi aesthetic and home-recorded alb ...

, R. Stevie Moore, and "basically most music that was recorded before 1990." Music journalist

Paul Lester Paul Lester is a British music journalist, author and broadcaster from Elstree, North London. Career He began his career as a freelance journalist, for ''Melody Maker'' in the early 1990s, as well as ''City Limits'', ''20/20'', '' Sky Magazin ...

characterized OLR as "heavenly hooks and catchy choruses". Marc Masters of

The Wire ''The Wire'' is an American crime drama television series created and primarily written by author and former police reporter David Simon. The series was broadcast by the cable network HBO in the United States. ''The Wire'' premiered on June 2 ...

compared his ''Foxy Baby'' album to Ariel Pink's " AM pop blender", and described the Matrix Metals album ''

Flamingo Breeze ''Flamingo Breeze'' is an album by American recording artist Sam Mehran, released under the alias Matrix Metals. The album was originally released in the summer of 2009 by the label Not Not Fun Records. Release The album was originally released ...

'' as a "mini-masterpiece of sub- disco loops". OLR issued numerous cassette tapes and limited edition vinyl discs, and according to Mehran, the project lasted until "somewhere in the spring of 2011". Its first LP release was the compilation ''Singles, Demos and Rarities (2007-2010)'', released on April 15, 2013, and was intended to be its only album. A follow-up, ''Birds, Bees, Babys, Bacteria'', was issued on cassette later that year. After OLR, Mehran co-wrote and co-produced Katie Rush's ''Law of Attraction'' (2014). He then produced

Puro Instinct Puro may refer to: People *Alec Puro (born 1975), American musician and composer * Olavi Puro (1918–1999), Finnish World War II flying ace *Teuvo Puro (1884–1956), Finnish actor and filmmaker Other *Puroresu is the predominant style of p ...

's ''Autodrama'' (2016) and

Samantha Urbani Samantha Urbani ( ; born September 18, 1987) is an American singer, songwriter, visual artist, filmmaker and producer from Mystic, Connecticut. She formed Friends; after three years, a trio of singles, and the album ''Manifest!'' on Fat Possum re ...

's ''Policies of Power'' (2017). His last work released before his death was his co-writing and co-production of Ssion's ''O'' (2018). Prior to his death, he was working on co-writing and production of

Katie Rush Katie is an English feminine name. It is a form Katherine, Kate, Caitlin, Kathleen, Katey and their related forms. It is frequently used on its own. People Sports *Katie Boulter (born 1996), British tennis player *Katie Clark (born 1994), Bri ...

's second and third albums, and a debut EP with

Marion Belle Marion may refer to: People *Marion (given name) * Marion (surname) * Marion Silva Fernandes, Brazilian footballer known simply as "Marion" * Marion (singer), Filipino singer-songwriter and pianist Marion Aunor (born 1992) Places Antarctica * M ...

. The second Katie Rush album ''Stage Life'' was released postmortem in April 2019, and his album with Belle was released in August 2019.

Death

Mehran died by suicide at his home in Hollywood on July 28, 2018, aged 31. His body was found the following morning. The album, titled ''Cold Brew'', was eventually released on July 28, 2021, the third anniversary of his death.

Discography

Studio albums * ''Mind Surfers Installation 04/12/08'' (2009) * ''Bermuda Telepaths'' (2009) * ''Flashback Repository'' (2009) * ''

'' (2009) * ''Foxy Baby'' (2009) * ''Wingdings I: Return to Earth'' (2009) * ''Wingdings II: Zarathustra's Puzzle'' (2009) * ''Wingdings III: Symbol of Infinity'' (2009) * ''So Unreal'' (2011) * ''I Kontact'' (2012) * ''Birds, Bees, Babys, Bacteria'' (2013) * ''Birds, Bees, Babys, Bacteria (GTVR Edition)'' (2016) * ''Cold Brew'' (2021) Compilation * ''Singles, Demos & Rarities 2007-2010'' (2013) See also * ''

For Screening Purposes Only ''For Screening Purposes Only'' is the debut studio album by UK dance-punk trio Test Icicles, released in 2005. It was critically praised for being unique and compelling in an increasingly homogenous indie music scene. Following the group's s ...

'' (2005) * ''Megafauna'' (2009) * ''

The Flower Lane ''The Flower Lane'' is the fourth studio album by the American indie rock project Ducktails, released on January 28, 2013 on Domino. Co-produced by Matt Mondanile and Al Carlson, ''The Flower Lane'' was the first Ducktails album to be recorded in ...

'' (2013)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mehran, Sam 1985 births 2018 deaths 2018 suicides 21st-century American male musicians Hypnagogic pop musicians Lo-fi musicians Musicians from Miami Suicides in California Test Icicles members