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| Mark Mulcahy |
New Album 'In Pursuit Of Your
Happiness' Out Now! Features contributions from J Mascis
and Joey Santiago of The Pixies.
"Mark
Mulcahy is crouching at the rear of the stage, tuning
up, taking the occasional sip of water .. He slouches
up to the microphone wearing Tom Waits's 1974 haircut
and holds his mouth open for six seconds. It looks, for
a moment, like he's going to greet us with a standard
"How's everyone doing?" banality, but then something
extraordinary happens: he sings. The former Miracle Legion
frontman has the kind of male voice you just don't hear
anymore: breathy, acrobatic, sensual, utterly, rapturously
in-touch" - Tom Cox - The Guardian
Yes, this man is good, but what has happened to him? You
can say things about him, but what does he do to deserve
your attention? Where is the music? Where is anything?
It's been 3 years at least since the lovely but underloved
'SmileSunset' came out, some live shows, mostly in Europe,
but nothing new, nothing. He's been asked to make a new
record, been invited to perform and he does nothing. Now
he shows up with this 'In Pursuit of Your Happiness' album.
What's that supposed to mean? Has he been on some journey
and this is godawful musical telling of his enlightenment?
'In Pursuit of Your Happiness'? It took this long and
we're still in pursuit? Where have you been Mr. Mulcahy?
Who are these pigs? We'd like some answers.
Where he has been is at the opera. That's right, no talking.
In the last 3 years, Mark has written and starred in two
operas. In a partnership with cartoonist Ben Katchor,
the two wrote 'The Slugbearers of Kayrol Island' and 'The
Rosenbach Co'. The shows had runs in New York and Philadelhia,
got incredible reviews, caused a sensation in the idiom
and opened the pandoras box of theater. It also led to
this pursuit. The pursuit of your happiness.
Mr. Mulcahys first record, 'Fathering' was an exclusive
affair. He wrote, played and sang everything. The singular
purpose had a wonderful result. The record was critcally
acclaimed, the album's stand-out track 'Hey Self Defeater'
was included alongside Springsteen¹s Thunder Road and
Van Morrison¹s Caravan in Nick Hornby's collection of
essays '31 Songs' as one of his all time favourites. There
was even some talk of an Allison Moyet version (if she
could change the words).The next,"SmileSunset' was
friendlier, more inclusive, but only a small handful of
support and a very long year in the making. Opera is different.
Collaborating is different. More musicians, more singers,
more lights, more bowing. Bowing and holding hands in
a row. It was eye opening to a man anxiously contemplating
how to make a new record.
Since it had been so long,this new record could not get
bogged down in studio forever.The last one took a year.
This one, two weeks. Well, maybe not exactly two weeks,
but sooner. Yes as soon as possible. Around then, Mark
bumped into his pal Myles Mangino at the JabbleFest. He
too had wondered where was something."I don't know."said
Mark. Myles suggested his studio, AND suggested they produce
it together."When?" Myles had done a lot of
work for Mark's old band Miracle Legion. He was getting
ready to go on the road with the Pixies, but there were
a few weeks.......We could make the record in few weeks.
Do you have the songs? "Huh?". Sleep on it dude.
Get it together. Well, the next morning it seemed like
a good idea. Mark did have the songs (mostly) and Myles
was a grueling taskmaster would stay on schedule, sloth
be damned. The question was how and who?
We've got Mark for the vocals. Good. Call Pasquale. Drums,
yes. Scott Helland will you leave the hot tub and play
bass? Yes. Ok, bass, drums, guitar( Mark). Let's do it
like that, plain and simple, fat and slanky, nice n'easy.
After a week it was awesome, but we needed more. More
guitar. Mark had recently started an Allman Brothers cover
band with J. Mascis (Dinosaur Jr). J, will you? "I'm
around." Perfect. Who else? Extra bass, Jeff Ladd
(Tirebiter), guitar, Matthew Zapruder the poet, more bass,
Mr Anderson, more guitar, Alex Johnson (Stuntmen) will
take the bus in, more guitar, Myles sent a track to LA
to Joey Santiago (Pixies), and get that school teacher
to play some french horn. Finally, Ken Mauiri. He led
the band in the opera and plays everything else. More
vocals? Yes please. Mark?
On time and almost on schedule it was finished. Almost.
One little piece of music that Ken had played on the farfisa
electric accordian was just sitting there. Just sitting,
no name, no words. Forget it? Myles was leaving soon,
maybe we should just forget it. Hmmmm. On just about the
last day Mark came in with the lyrics. One hour later
it was done. The new national anthem. In Pursuit of Your
Happiness. It is finished.
The pigs are friends of Mark's. They met in the spring
and hung out all summer. "They're easy to be with.
None games you can get in this business. 100% real."
One day, Mark was talking about making a video for 'In
Pursuit' and the pigs had the idea for them to antagonise,
they make the rules. Positively Orwellian, and so true
in this complicated futuristic present. Zeke Fiddler came
out and after a bag of appples and two pair of shoes,
'Pigs in Pursuit' was added to the album, just after song
13. The cover is made from video stills. The flip side
of the insert is the brand new game 'In Pursuit of Your
Happiness', the at home version. Players(2) roll dice
and move pigs chasing the dream of serenity, while discovering
inner truths and the dark longings of their opponent.
Dangerous? Yes it is. You'll know more than ever and that
might be saying something.
So that explains it all. The music, the players, the video,
the game, the opera, the absentia. Mr Mulcahy has had
gone missing, but he was not sleeping. This 'In Pursuit
of Your Happiness' is a full days work. Perhaps good things
DO take time. I wonder, Lois............ |
| Press |
"Majestic,
mind-blowing, quite marvellous - your happiness is assured
if you purchase this record" - The Sun
"This is his finest hour; as sensual and candid as
a great torch album" - Mojo
"Mulcahy is no browbeater; you must let
this grow on you like a subtly lovely plant" - Evening Standard
"Mulcahy's misanthropic literacy is wonderfully offset
by the naked piano and string arrangements and is given
full flight on the superb closing He Vanished - the sort
of song you never want to end." - The
Metro
"His songs cast their
spell long after the record’s finished, scratching
away at your subconscious until you go back of your own
volition." - Observer
Music Monthly
"Terrific - his
third solo album opens wounds and plays with the patterns
as the blood runs free" - The Guardian
"A career best - the kind
of magic that unites the Yorkes and Hornbys of this world" - The Times
"He
sings with the old, vaulting abandon that once led Thom
Yorke to dub his voice the most beautiful in the world.
A welcome and substantial return to form." - Uncut
"the songs are
intimate, intelligent, wise and melodic. But the really
special thing is his voice: such range, such texture,
such honesty - it's gorgeous" - The
Daily Telegraph
"In Pursuit
of Your Happiness" has so many golden, and even diamond-encrusted,
moments that the jewellery industry might consider stocking
it in glass cabinets. Make sure you grab a copy before
they do, because records this good are a seriously rare
and precious commodity" - Delusions
of Adequacy
"The albums 49
minutes flow so smoothly that when it's over you just
really want to hit the 'play' button again to delay the
comedown...mission accomplished mark, my happiness has
been achieved." - ireallylovemusic.co.uk
"Sublime - a softly ebbing comedown
of a record" - Independent On Sunday
"A rare and subtle talent to be cherished hugely
- variously recalling the psychedelic folk of Astral Weeks-period
Van Morrison, the dulcet moodiness of Mark Lanegan, or
the yearning of Jacques Brel" - The
Sunday Telegraph
"Brooding,
self-lacerating reflections, delivered in a cracked, tremulous
tone" - The Independent
"Treads the line between hope-filled joy,
and the more sombre brand of devlish introspection that
plagues the soul in the early hours of a whisky-soaked
morning." - Artrocker
"Imaginative and lyrically distinctive -
a satisfying, grown-up record that's difficult to second-guess" - Classic Rock |
| Links |
Official
Mark Mulchay Myspace
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| Press Images |
Album Cover
1424x1412 / 300dpi / 874kb
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Press Shot 3
Photo by: Christopher Kontoes
3072x2048 / 72dpi / 2.5mb
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Press Shot 5
Photo by: Christopher Kontoes
3072x2048 / 72dpi / 2.6mb
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Press Shot 6
Photo by: Christopher Kontoes
3072x2048 / 300dpi / 825kb
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in a new window or right click here and select 'save as' |
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