Flanked
by a suitably frightful pumpkin entourage, Nick Mulvey provided
Nottingham’s intimate Rescue
Rooms
no
Friday night Halloween frights but rather, placed a further marker
down as to his growing stature as a pioneer of an acoustic sound
bursting with rhythm, texture and an utterly unrelenting melodic
soundscape.
Opening
with the almost hypnotic April,
Mulvey wasted no time in grasping the audience by the scruff of the
neck. Arpeggiating his haunting creation to give a swelling effect
that engulfed the small enclosure that is Rescue
Rooms,
he dictated a hushed silence over his on-looking crowd. What I was
interested in and later disappointed in however was seeing whether
this sense of control was short-lived; Mulvey does not necessarily
strike as the most natural protagonist under the lights. Indeed, the
evening fluctuates between having the crowd hanging on his every word
and others in which, unfortunately, iPhone screens are aplenty amid
obvious lulls in attention. Essentially, there is nothing
particularly visually resonant for which we can cling on to. As such,
it is almost a confusing visual entity and Mulvey, whilst appearing
genuinely appreciative to his rammed room of Nottingham onlookers, at
times fails to command the stage as his rising status perhaps
demands.
It
is in the solo sections of his set, with Mulvey performing haunting
renditions of I
Don’t Want To Go Home
and
The
Trellis
where
he excels. The limbo between flat-out acoustic and the more upbeat,
traditional ‘band’ performance is eliminated; we are instead left
simply to marvel at the London-born singers’ effortless grace of
the guitar that couples so wonderfully with his rich,
thought-provoking vocals. That said, this does not distract from the
great merit with which Mulvey executes fan-favourites including
Cucurucu,
Fever
to the Form
and
the energetic and gritty Juramidam,
a particular highlight in which Mulvey infuses harmonics and a
bouncing guitar line to bring widespread head-bopping and halloween
hip-shaking.
Accompanied
by the lush, atmospheric hang (a UFO shaped steel drum), the
endearing singer-songwriter finished his set to rapturous
appreciation with a charmingly creative and irresistibly slick take
on Drake’s Hold
On, We’re Going Home,
before concluding with his now customary finisher, Nitrous.
Importantly, whilst his live set does at times feel lacking in
something, given the relatively infant stage of his solo career, such
a weakness should be of little concern to Mulvey who musically, was
at times awe-inspiring. Such was his excellence, I was often left
desperately searching for the surly second guitarist hiding in the
shadows only to realise that Mulvey - who leaves no stone unturned -
was merely executing guitar technique rarely so tonally elegant and
accomplished. Mulvey boasts a great sense of cohesion and in his
collection of music that is, in equal measures, both original and
eclectic in its influences. Given where Mulvey has come from (a
member of the similarly striking and Mercury Award nominated outfit,
Portico Quartet) it is hard not to feel as though his rhythmically
and sonically perfected craft has arrived at a natural moment in his
musical path; indeed, for Mulvey, it seems as though this is just the
beginning.
Words - MattTaylor
Nick Mulvey official site