This article was published in 2009.

Model Warships' debut album ‘Merchant’ is being digitally released by the Vienna-based internet record label Beat is Murder. Model Warships is the lo-fi, implosive solo songwriting project of Michael Waters.

Previously found honing his craft in groups ranging from ambient and noise to post-rock and folk, Model Warships represents the culmination of these disparate influences, blending pop structures with emotive vocals and experimental arrangements.

Beginning in late 2008 with a handful of simple guitar-driven songs, they gradually evolved and disintegrated in parallel with Waters' trends in self-destruction. An album of catharsis and introspection, ‘Merchant’ is recorded with a stark, lo-fi sound which imbues even the more plaintive corners of the album with an undercurrent of brutality and panic.

For more details visit www.beatismurder.com.