Album Review: Mark Mulcahy- Dear Mark J. Mulcahy, I Love You
For some reason, if there’s something I discover well after
the fact—E.G. a record released years prior that I am late to the party on—I
tend to put myself back to the year it was from when I listen, thinking about
where I was in that year.
At quick glance, all of Mark Mulcahy’s solo output was
released in years that I suppose one could consider “banner” years from my
life—his debut, Fathering, is from
1997—the year I started high school. The follow up, Smilesunset is from 2001, the year I went to college. In 2005, the
year I graduated from college and went off on my own, Mulcahy dropped In Pursuit of Your Happiness. And now,
weeks from my 30th birthday, Mark Mulcahy is back with his first LP
in eight years—Dear Mark J. Mulcahy, I
Love You.
The eight-year gap between albums hasn’t changed Mulcahy’s
knack for writing excellent, jangly pop songs, nor has it compromised his
sound. The eleven songs that make up Dear
Mark J. Mulcahy show a growth and focus that wasn’t missing from his past
efforts, but it is certainly more present here.
The overall sound of Dear
Mark J. Mulcahy is tough to describe. In the 1980’s and into the early
90’s, when Mulcahy was fronting the much beloved but always underrated college
rock outfit Miracle Legion—their sound was something you could classify as
“jangle pop.” Into his solo career, he’s brought a bit of that with him, but
he’s also brought the intelligence and storytelling capabilities of a
singer/songwriter, and I suppose the best way to describe this album is that it
is “Adult Oriented Pop Music.” It sure as shit isn’t “dad rock,” it’s still
jangly, and most importantly, it’s super catchy (best seen in “Everybody
Hustles Leo,” and “My Rose Coloured Friend”)—an affirmation of Mulcahy’s skills
at crafting pop music.
There has always been a hint of humor to Mulcahy’s solo
work, and this is no exception. From the non sequitur “Waiter, there’s a frog
in my…” that opens “Let The Fireflies Fly Away,” to the surprising joke in
“He’s a Magnet”—“Excuse me lady, what’s that book you’re reading? Ah, The Bible! That’s so interesting.
They’ve got a word for everything in there,” Dear Mark J. Mulcahy is a record that requires your utmost
attention while listening.
The high points on the record come in the second
half—including the somewhat whimsical sounding, yet lyrically serious “Bailing
Out on Everything Again,” and the second to last track, the gorgeous,
bittersweet slow jam “The Rabbit.”
Mulcahy’s absence from music is a sad story that’s certainly
been told many times. His wife suddenly passed away five years ago, leaving him
to raise his twin daughters. In 2009, a tribute/benefit album, Ciao, My Shining Star, was curated, with
proceeds going directly to Mulcahy’s family. There have also been a lot of
false starts at working on an album—not specifically this album. Dear Mark J. Mulcahy came together out
of working with a specific group of musicians in Northampton—Mucahly never went
into this record thinking, “I’m going to make a record,” and opted to take it
one song at a time. In a recent interview with Consequence of Sound, he
mentions two other abandoned albums sitting around—the sessions for one bore
his limited edition single from December, “Low Birthweight Child.”
Dear Mark J. Mulcahy,
I Love You is a welcome return for an artist that should have more than
just a cult following. It’s a brief record (only 35 minutes), and it’s both
complex and simple all at once. With Mulcahy’s renewed interest in performing
and recording, one can hope that another eight years don’t pass before we see
something else from him.
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