SOUNDTRACK: SCOTT MULVAHILL-Tiny Desk Concert #825 (February 18, 2019).
I had never heard of Scott Mulvahill. And when I saw him with his big upright bass, I assumed he was a jazz guy. But I was wrong. And the reason I’d never heard of him?
Scott Mulvahill has been trying to win the Tiny Desk Contest for each of its four years. He’s always been one of our favorites, though he’s never been our winner. The double bassist entered his song, “Begin Againers” in 2016 and though it wasn’t the winning entry, we all loved it so much, I invited him to my desk to perform his extraordinary song. He opened the Tiny Desk with it, only this time he was joined by bandmates Jesse Isley and Josh Shilling who shared vocal harmonies.
“Begin Againers” is such a delightfully simple song–a cool upright bass melody that runs through the whole song (with an occasional flourish) and three voices. Scott sings leads and he sounds like a fairly conventional old-school folk singer, but with a bit more punch. He sings the lead and his two Jesse and Josh add some great harmonies. (who play guitar and keys).
There’s a bit of Jackson Browne [I was thinking James Taylor, but I think Browne is more accurate] in his voice and a bit of Paul Simon shows through in his self-reflective words.
When the song’s over he says, “That was the first song I ever sent into NPR and of course I wanted to play it behind this desk. Isn’t it beautiful guys?”
For track two, “Gold Plated Lie,” Jesse and Josh switch to (guitar and keys) and two other guys come out to play drums and dobro [Terence Clark: drums; Gabe Scott: dobro]. With a full band, the music sounds fantastic. The track opens with a zippy keyboard riff which everyone else soon joins in on. There’s some cool ah ha has in the bridge and then a really stellar big chorus. By the end the ah has turn into oh hos hos and and the catchy melody edges a bit sinister. It’s fantastic.
Scott Mulvahill honed his craft touring with the great bluegrass mandolin player Ricky Skaggs. “Playing bluegrass with him is like playing jazz with Miles Davis,” Scott told the Tiny Desk crowd.
He says that it taught him to learn to write on the bass, which led to this new album. For the title track “Himalayas,” it’s just him and his bass, and his bass writing is very cool.
For the final tune, the title track from his self-released and current album Himalayas, Scott Mulvahill goes solo, brings out a bow for that bass and we hear a spaciousness I don’t often find in the Nashville world he inhabits.
He bows the bass (playing some really deep and some really really high notes). And when he starts singing, he plays harmonics and slaps the bass for percussion. After slapping and singing for a bit, he starts bowing again, and even though the song doesn’t change, the new sound really changes the tone of everything. I love the way he ends the song with such a high bass note.
[READ: February 7, 2019] The New Brighton Archeological Society: Book One
I was immediately attracted to this story because of the drawing style. There was something really fascinating about these little kids with big heads, dressed like adults. And of course the title was really cool (especially given the fact that the kids has crossbows and there were goblins with them as well).
The story starts 50 years ago as an island stands up out of a lake and walks away. On the island it looks like fairy marrying a goblin.
It jumps to 50 years later in Antarctica where four people are chasing a lone figure. The lone figure pulls out a magic lamp with a genie in it. He says a magic word and the people vanish. Then we cut to the children on the cover. Their parents were the ones who have gone missing (presumed dead) and now the kids are moving in with an older couple in a giant mansion. Their relationship to the older couple is a bit vague, but they knew the kids’ parents too.
The kids acclimate well, playing together in the fields in all seasons . And then one day they happen upon clubhouse. A clubhouse that clearly belonged to their parents. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 