Where earlier releases found Merlin moving through public spaces, tracing connection and community in motion, “SpiceKick” invites us to take a closer look at the artist who we’ve been watching and listening to attentively since she first won us over with her 2022 EP Gone Girl. And much like that album’s RANGE-approved single, “Free Grillz,” this track is both club and remix-ready. It’s louder, sharper, and more confrontational, built on a propulsive flavour that feels very much like a Magi Merlin bop. It’s a performance of confidence that knowingly teeters on the edge of collapse. 

That ethos is the core of POWER HOUSE, due July 10 via celebrated Montreal imprint Bonsound. Framed as a 12-track deep dive into the “rooms” we carry internally, the record shifts Merlin’s focus inward without losing the broader social awareness that has defined her work to date. If A Weird Little Dog reveled in experimentation and her earlier material emphasized shared experience, this new era interrogates what happens when those external forces are internalized—how identity, desire, and self-perception fracture under pressure.