Mercy is the twelfth studio album by guitarist and songwriter Trey Anastasio, released on March 11, 2022.[1] It is his first fully acoustic album and was produced by Bryce Goggin and Robert Stevenson.[2]
Two songs from this album - "Hey Stranger" and "Mercy" - were re-recorded by Phish for their sixteenth studio album, Evolve, set to be released in July 2024.
Background
Mercy is Anastasio's second album recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic, after 2020's Lonely Trip, and is seen as a companion to that album. He has said that he intends to implement the songs on the album into Phish's repertoire in the near future.[3]
Anastasio felt that the songs needed to be heard in sparse arrangements, saying in the liner notes:
It’s two years since we went into hiding. This is still going on, and it’s an even lonelier trip… Here I was, still at home, playing acoustic guitar. I thought, “These songs just want to be one guy with a guitar, singing.”[4]
On the album, Anastasio used a custom-made acoustic guitar by Adam Buchwald of Circle Strings commissioned by Phish keyboardist Page McConnell as a birthday gift. Some songs on the album include more than one guitar part, overlaid on top of an existing part, with Anastasio explaining:
The decision was made very quickly: "Let me double the guitar." I was listening to the first take on headphones and playing off it. It was like jamming with myself.[5]
