![]() ![]() Lead single "Myela," for instance, was inspired by first-hand accounts of journeys taken by refugees.Ĭo-written by Mulvey and backing bandmember Federico Bruno, it draws on African rhythms, pop, and group singing through verses about a young Sudanese woman in Sicily and about making it from Syria to Lebanon. Not only an album steeped in international styles, but in global events, Wake Up Now addresses topics including the refugee crisis and the impact of fracking. The latter has a lot to do with the fact that it was recorded live in the studio as a band with producer Ethan Johns ( Paul McCartney, Ray LaMontagne).įollowing those sessions, tracks were passed to First Mind producer Dan Carey for finishing electronic touches, resulting in a record that seems both impulsive and impeccable at once. The follow-up to his Mercury Prize-nominated debut, First Mind, it likewise showcases an array of world music influences, particularly in terms of rhythm, but listeners will also notice a less intimate, more exuberant presentation. That’s how it should be.Wake Up Now is the second solo album by former Portico Quartet percussionist Nick Mulvey, a singer, songwriter, and (primarily) guitarist with a degree in ethnomusicology. “Sometimes you get radio interviews where you can sit down for an hour and talk about the detail. “That’s what I like to tell everybody”, he says, indignant. A suggestion that we bypass the exact technical workings of his guitar sequences prompts today’s only sign of irritability from this otherwise mellow musician. “I don’t know how much you want to talk about that”. Isadora mulvey how to#“There were lots of things I was discovering about chord patterns and how to make simple sequences…” He breaks off. ![]() It’s clear he takes his guitar-playing techniques seriously. Instead of reading music traditionally, he started developing guitar patterns that would prove to be the secret of his trance-like melodies in songs such as “ Fever to the Form”. Songwriting followed not long after he picked up the guitar. There was always blues-based music and I loved it intuitively as a kid – Chuck Berry, Bob Dylan, Dire Straits.” More modern pop he picked up from his older sister, who introduced him to Massive Attack, Portishead, and Nineties dance and trance music, which finds a way on to First Mind in the form of a cover of Olive’s “You’re Not Alone”. “I was much more drawn towards my dad’s informal approach to music he would play songs and entertain us. Not that he enjoyed the structured approach of learning music academically. Isadora mulvey professional#His father, a biologist turned yoga teacher, and now a guide at the gardens in Kenwood, taught him the rudimentary chords, while his natural aptitude for music also came from his mother, a former professional singer. He quickly became “obsessed, in a teenage way”. He started on the piano, and the first time he picked up a guitar was when he found one lying around while holidaying in France with his family, aged 16. They can give you steroid cream, but they can’t solve the problem and, who can say, but it did go. … So from what domain does that problem arise? It’s about really living inside the truth.” He smiles. There’s not much you can do about it, it’s auto-immune. Isadora mulvey skin#I had a skin pigment disorder that went when I started writing my own songs. “I relaxed as a person, relationships changed and moved on, I met so many interesting people. “I noticed a lot of changes in my life”, he says. ![]() Months of dissatisfaction went by, and when Mulvey finally parted ways with Portico Quartet, the result was pure relief. I thought, ‘I want to warm the room.’ You come in and sit down and you’re never unsure what key we’re in. ” “With Portico Quartet, we would often make music where we were pulling in different directions, and I realised that all this was doing was flummoxing the listeners’ expectations. “I had a real desire to follow the guitar and get back to writing lyrics, and all of that was dovetailing with a dissatisfaction with the hang drum and the low ceiling of the jazz world”, he recalls over coffee. ![]()
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