REGINA — Saskatchewan-born singer-songwriter Marvin Chan treats music not just as a career, but more as a calling. Despite describing himself as an introverted songwriter, he collaborates with artists he connects with.
Chan is known as Merv xx Gotti in the indie dream pop or dream folk music scene.
“Music is the closest thing I’ve ever had to a religion or spiritual devotion. It feels more like emotional cleansing, so I don’t really need inspiration to write. Songwriting and music feel like a necessity to me, similar to having a consistent meditation practice or physical routine, or even maintaining regular basic hygiene,” Chan told SaskToday.
“I have records coming out soon with the Toronto-based, Asian-focused artist collective Takes A Village. In October, I will be releasing a new song, ‘Take It Slow,’ featuring Toronto-based Asian artists HMLT, Kaiyel and Eric Ryan. I’m also putting out a new record soon with my side-project emo band, GHOSTFORM.”
He said GHOSTFORM is a band made up of his longtime friends from Regina’s hardcore music scene, including Gage McGuire and Chris Dimas from the indie rock band Surf Dads, along with Jon Wolfond and Gary Matheis from the noise rock band Blue Youth. That experience has carried him from Regina to stages across Europe and North America.
Chan recently released his debut LP, Guitar Songs: A Thesis On Low Efficiency Emotional Excavation, with “Minnesota” as the final single to complete the indie dream pop singer-songwriter's much-anticipated work. The track is a poignant reflection on the modern artist’s experience.
"‘Minnesota’ is about an artist I met in Minnesota, and how painful it is to be an artist in our time. The artist I met also taught me a lot about minimalism, and since the making of these Guitar Songs was a practice in restraint, I wanted Minnesota to be the essence of this idea,” said Chan, following his breakout year in 2024.
Chan’s debut solo project, Guitar Songs EP, received widespread acclaim last year. The single Jiujitsu was named one of CBC’s Top 100 Canadian Songs of 2024 and secured the largest syndication pickup for a Saskatchewan song in five years. It has amassed more than a quarter-million streams on Spotify and spent over a dozen weeks on Earshot’s Top 30 charts.
He has toured North America, with stops at major international music festivals, including five shows at South by Southwest (SXSW) in Austin, North by Northeast (NXNE) in Toronto, and M for Montreal. He has also shared the stage with Canadian artists such as Chantal Kreviazuk and Big Sugar.
Earlier this year, he was named Music Professional of the Year at the Saskatchewan Music Awards and performed in Saskatoon and Regina at Swamp Fest on Willow Island in Wascana Park for the first time. The festival helped sustain the Regina music scene, especially following the final Regina Folk Festival earlier this year.
Chan then went on tour in September, performing at Drom Taberna and Bar Mordecai in Toronto, the UWE and Reeperbahn Festival in Hamburg, Germany, and the United Kingdom. He is scheduled to appear at the O+ Festival in Kingston, N.Y., on Oct. 12, and the Jade Music Festival in Vancouver on Nov. 8.
“I’m planning to sleep most of December [after the tour],” he said jokingly. “If I’m not on tour, I play single-player, narrative-driven games. I’m currently playing The Witcher 3 on Switch, and I'm currently reading the second Dune book. I also wander around a lot until I find a jiujitsu gym. But wherever I am, I actually really like playing guitar and working on my MacBook.”
Growing up immersed in Regina’s underground music community, Chan spent much of his teenage years at The Buffalo Lounge and The Exchange, watching local bands Means and The Fortunate. His earliest performances included opening for Andy Shauf and Climb Aboard the Friendship, a predecessor to Foxwarren, which remain among his favourite artists today.
He said growing up as an Asian Canadian in the 1990s was strange, as it felt monocultural, revolving around football, trucks and country music. It took him a long time to heal his relationship with his hometown, but his journey from Regina’s hardcore basements to global festival stages is still unfolding.
“Our communities and our pasts shape us. I’ll always carry Regina with me, even as I move forward. I still record my albums in Regina at Blue Door Studio. I want to keep my solo albums as homegrown as possible for as long as I can. And all of this gives me the chance to see my parents while I still can,” said Chan.
“I still love Regina. My parents still live in Regina. I make a point to perform as much as my tour schedule allows. I live in Toronto now, which I love, but I am who I am because of my hometown, and I often write about it in my songs. I felt lucky to play in festivals I grew up with this year, like Cathedral Village Arts Fest in Regina and SaskJazz Fest in Saskatoon.”
