Around the age of 20 he moved to France and then to Amsterdam where he recorded his first album of demos of songs written during his travels, called Through Darkness into Day.
One track from this album, "Nine Sixteen", was chosen as the iTunes/Starbucks pick of the week in 2009.
In 2014, he returned temporarily to his homeland of New Zealand to record the full-length album Highways,[4] which was released on 25 October 2014.
Merz is also the co-author and illustrator of the children's book Fins, Fluff and Other Stuff.
[5] He has also illustrated numerous other children's books and worked commercially as an animator.