Local poet and musician Christian Morant debuted on Ohm Radio last month his new single, “Mermaid Green,” a live recording featuring Mount Pleasant vocalist Emily Curtis. The single is a part of his new studio series, a project where he collaborates with local musicians to celebrate Charleston’s indie music scene.
Aside from Curtis, Morant also worked with his sister, Moncks Corner visual artist Chelsea-Lee Rheault who created the single’s cover art, and North Charleston musician Michael Duff, who played guitar on the song.
Morant said “that Charleston collaborative energy” is what makes “Mermaid Green” special, as well as his collaborative video series. He’s making and releasing on Youtube a series of acoustic studio sessions with local musicians — a project that will result in an album to be released later this year.
“Music is a type of therapy. There was some darker material years ago. That was a different version of me, and then I realized the spiritual inner work I had to do to move in a more positive light,” Morant said. “The essence of Mermaid Green is this kind of fairytale feeling of love in general. I gravitate towards that joy.”
And he’s sharing in the joy of music making by working with Charleston’s musical community for his new studio series.
Ongoing series highlights Charleston artists
The studio series highlights Morant’s collaborative songwriting and singing with musicians like Curtis. This month, for example, he released Curtis’s original song “The Background” — on which Morant is featured — via his YouTube channel.
The series focuses on stripped-back, acoustic songs, which include “Unstable,” “The Greatest Showman” and “Tender Loving Care” (those songs feature New York-based Jenn Bedell and Lubomir Rzepka). Morant said new songs, mostly with Charleston musicians plus accompanying videos, will be released every two to three months. At the end of the year, he plans to put it all into a full album release.
Summerville based director Jackson Bailes lends his eye behind the camera to create authentic, raw moments in the video recordings of the songs. Baile’s laid-back approach is exactly what Morant was looking for, he said.
Morant admits he’s making the album “backwards from what most people do,” but said building the studio series has reignited his creative spark.
“I was really rushing the process when I was trying to do really produced tracks before,” he told the Charleston City Paper. “[Now,] whoever wants to listen to it, listen to it. I’m no longer [thinking] ‘oh my God, I have to perfect this thing’ anymore.”
Returning to his roots
For the past several years, Morant has split time between New York and Charleston, but has found himself returning over and over again to work with Charleston artists — especially his family.
Aside from his painter sister, Morant said he finds inspiration in his father, who is a songwriter, producer, musician and author, Jonathan “Mookie” Morant (Charleston City Paper’s Best Local Author 2024.) While the father and son each have their own projects, Christian Morant describes he and his father as “working in parallel” and said they are creating a children’s book together.
“Mermaid Green” and the studio series are only recent additions to Morant’s repertoire: He recently performed at Keith Summey Library for North Charleston Arts Fest and released his poetry collection Growth in 2023.
Watch the studio series at youtube.com/christianmorant. Keep up with Morant
@christian.morant on Instagram and via his website christianmorant.com.
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