One sentence bio
Merlyn Driver is a singer-songwriter and nature-focused musician whose sound draws on folk, as well as other global and contemporary influences.
One paragraph bio
Merlyn Driver is a singer-songwriter and nature-focused musician whose sound draws on folk, as well as other global and contemporary influences. Born in Orkney, an archipelago in the north of Scotland and raised on a smallholding without electricity, Merlyn’s music is shaped by his sometimes unconventional Orkney upbringing, as well as a deep love of nature and many years of intercultural exploration.
Detailed bio
Merlyn Driver is a singer songwriter and nature-focused musician, whose sound draws on folk, as well as other global and contemporary influences.
Born in Orkney, an archipelago in the north of Scotland and raised on a smallholding without electricity, Merlyn spent much of his time outdoors and only started attending the local school in his teens. His critically acclaimed multi-artist album project, Simmerdim: Curlew Sounds was released in partnership with the RSPB in 2022.
Merlyn’s debut solo album, It Was Also Sometimes Daylight was released in October 2025 to similar widespread critical acclaim, garnering radio play (including BBC Radio 6 Music, BBC Radio 3, Radio Scotland, RTE), and reviews from the likes of The Guardian, KLOF Magazine, Songlines, and The Scotsman.
Guests on the album include Owen Spafford (fiddle); Nathan Riki Thomson (double bass); Francesca Ter-Berg (cello); and various creatures including curlews, greenshank, blackbirds, wood sandpipers, barnacle geese, and multiple species of frogs and toads.
Selected quotes
”There is an ease to Driver’s singing and playing, and a lo-fi aspect to the recording, that belies the nuance and complexity of his songwriting, which at times approaches genuine poetry” - KLOF Magazine
"As if Nick Drake had traded some of his solitude for dawn and birdsong" - Esmeralda Moberg, Radio Sweden
”A vital voice in the contemporary folk scene” - KLOF Magazine
"Haunting and beautiful" - Mark Radcliffe (BBC Radio 2)
“Fascinating and unique" - BBC Radio Scotland
"Totally beguiling stuff" - Roddy Hart (BBC Radio Scotland)
”His atmospheric songs evoke the curlews of his native island, and the soaring vocal flights of Tim Buckley” - Songlines Magazine
Press quotes for It Was Also Sometimes Daylight:
“A gorgeous debut” - Jude Rogers, The Guardian
"Absolutely sublime” - Lee Schofield (Wild Fell)
“What beauty; almost hymnal” - Roddy Hart, BBC Radio Scotland
“Absolutely sublime” – Lee Schofield (Wild Fell)
”Hypnotic” - The Scotsman
”Extraordinary sound” - Cerys Matthews, BBC 6 Music
“A thing of beauty” - Lilian Smith, RTE 1
”He is capable of taking highly personal, confessional songwriting and elevating it with unconventional language: Shoal sounds like Richard Thompson, if he’d been a marine biologist” - KLOF Magazine
”It Was Also Sometimes Daylight is a gorgeous debut and a great follow-up to his 2022 multi-artist project, Simmerdim: Curlew Sounds, his voice and guitar recalling the rich magic of Dick Gaughan and Nic Jones.” - Jude Rogers, The Guardian
All social network tags: @merlyndriver
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