Nick Mulvey’s first two albums, First Mind in 2014 and Wake Up Now in 2017, are among the loveliest singer-songwriter fare released this century. With his last album, 2022’s New Mythology, his ayahuasca-fuelled search for spiritual meaning went full-blown mystic. Where has it led him? To Jesus.
The first Dark Harvest album (the second is due in the autumn) is touched by Christianity, notably on the slightly preachy “My Maker” (“God shares His secrets with those who fear Him”). But, like Bob Dylan’s first Born Again outing, Slow Train Coming, upon occasion the spark of religion lights the fuse of creativity.
Mulvey has stated the album “tracks the descent and grief that hit me in the last three years”. Specifics are unsaid, but his cover of Annie Lennox’s “No More ‘I Love You’s” is a shimmering disconsolate thing, and across the album his voice seems even more skinlessly raw than usual. His extraordinary Afro-flecked finger-picking guitar style is intact, revolving patterns accompanying lyrics that wander gnomically between belief and wonder.
The calibre of songwriting isn’t as consistent as previous outings. The album becomes less as it goes along. But the first half contains classic Mulvey moments, chief of which is the stunning, ecstatic “River to the Real”, which shows he can still match his best work. Other gems include “Solastagia”, which may be a wrenching spiritualist rumination on those who’ve passed, the bubbly brass-speckled “Radical Tenderness” (“Would you rather be right or free now?”), and the airy, pared-back title song.
Sometimes, the new age hippiedom becomes too much, as on a track which is an ansaphone message from a female friend (“I just have a few thoughts to share. I was thinking about that saying… you once shared… with me… it touched me deeply - rejection is God’s protection! Whew! Even to say it now makes me breathe deeper.”). But Mulvey’s heartfelt ponderings are also the antithesis of an age where wealth is sole god. He pleads for cosmic beauty as our world grows ever uglier. It’s an unlikely path these days. It seems worthwhile to keep travelling with him a while yet.
Below: watch the video for "Radical Tenderness" by Nick Mulvey
