Bleu Edmondson – “No Room For Mercy”

Texas artist Bleu Edmondson’s young career has been long on lyrically and thematically edgy songs about individuals and relationships in all stages of brokenness. His newest release is no departure from the approach that has served him so well.

“No Room for Mercy” is a catchy mid-tempo slice of Texas music (which these days, is generally defined as bar rock with a twang) with a very accessible sound. Unfortunately for Bleu’s wallet—but fortunately for his Texas cred—most conventional radio programmers won’t come near this with a 100K watt tower.

Under a literal (and amidst a figurative) Comal County lightning storm, Bleu and his wife hash out their differences in a fight that’s a few too late to actually pull their relationship back from the brink. Finding her too far at fault for resolution and undeserving of forgiveness, he lets her yell at his back while a “flood of broken dreams” washes away their home.

“No Room For Mercy” won’t play between The Band Perry’s latest and a debt restructuring ad on Clear Channel because there’s no hope left in the lyrics, not even a spark of promise. Country radio these days doesn’t mind a sad song as long as there’s opportunity for redemption, but you can’t bring down the mood of Nascar dads and soccer moms because they might change the station, looking for the latest “I’m country and proud” anthem.

Less mainstream still, the chorus leaves open the possibility that more than just harsh words are exchanged between man and wife here. Bleu sings “That’s my/Our blood there on the floor” to draw a symbolic picture of what’s been lost, but is that all he means? Eminem’s recent smash “Love the Way You Lie” explicitly talks about a couple’s violent fights (since when is pop is more accepting of “reality” than country?), but Edmondson here only intimates that could be the case in this breakup.

This looks to be another #1 hit on the Texas charts for Bleu. While a slightly cleaner sound might cause some grumbling among diehards, there’s little chance of him going the way of Pat Green, at least for now and certainly with this single. Besides, Bleu’s gravely voice is probably only suited for the outermost edges of the mainstream no matter how pop-leaning the song or slick the production.

“No Room for Mercy” is a jarringly memorably tune that should further Bleu Edmondson’s steady rise among the Texas ranks. Regrettably, it’ll never play in the mainstream world.