NEWS: Carlo Meriano releases latest album “Sticka Ikebana” on December 4, 2011.

Carlo Meriano wants to tell you a story. It won't have a beginning or an end, and it might be different the next time you hear it, and it might be about temporal paradoxes or about being a truck driver, but it will always be honest. A stranger to music theory, Carlo has been writing songs since childhood as a way to express and make sense of his experiences and emotions, and also because he can't remember the lyrics to other artist's songs.

With influences that include Elliott Smith, Johnny Cash, The Magnetic Fields and the creator of the original Twilight Zone television series, Carlo presents a truly unique sound with lyrics that range from collapse and redemption, happiness and fear to the absurd. These songs, written from 2006 to 2010, were born of out of Carlo's own life, informed by two years of self destruction followed by two years of rebuilding in his life and his music. Musically, this renewal was clear when Carlo released the Toys are Just EP in 2008, featuring songs written and performed chiefly on a ukulele and a toy electronic guitar purchased at Value Village for $4.99. Based on the strength of that EP and Carlo's often frenetic live shows, he toured the East Coast and was invited to open Andrew WK's Halifax show.


Following the success of this tour and shows across Ontario, Carlo started writing in earnest; revisiting the music he'd written both before and after his most destructive period and recorded a full length album with Dave Plowman, featuring support from several Toronto musicians.

On December 4, 2011 at the Painted Lady in Toronto, Carlo will release Sticka Ikebana, a nine track journey through a diverse landscape that is unified by Carlo's soulful vocals and jaunty melodies. Layered with guitar, ukulele, lap steel, violin, banjo and even the glockenspiel, Sticka Ikebana has a strong folk heart with country, rock and pop influences.

Carlo Meriano wants to tell you a story. Are you listening?