Mark Mulcahy – Dear
Mark J. Mulcahy, I Love You
Fire Records, 2013
Mark Mulcahy is famous for some odd reasons. In 2008 a Mark
Mulcahy tribute album was released prompting everyone to ask: Who the hell is Mark Mulcahy and why does he
get a tribute album? Mark Mulcahy is was the frontman of 80s college rock
troupe Miracle Legion and better known as the singer for Polaris—The band that
did the theme song for the Nickelodeon classic The Adventures of Pete and Pete. The tribute album—Ciao My Shining Star: The Songs of Mark
Mulcahy, featuring the likes of such luminaries as Thom Yorke, Dinosaur Jr,
Vic Chesnutt, Frank Black, Michael Stipe, The National, the list keeps
going—was released to help Mulcahy out financially after the sudden death of
his wife in 2008. “To help Mulcahy continue making music while raising his
three-year-old twin daughters,” says Wikipedia. If your heart isn’t broken by
this, it oughta be.
I’m sure all of this gives Mark Mulcahy a headache. The fact
that every review of Dear Mark J Mulcahy,
I Love You will invariably bring up
his dead wife and how sad it is. The best thing about the record though is that
it makes you forget all of that pretty much instantly with the domineering
opener “I Taketh Away.” Straight out of the gate Mulcahy hits you with sass,
wit, and charm. There’s no sad-bastardness to in sight, as much as
sad-bastardness would be totally acceptable. Sure, there are songs that break
your heart because you know there is personal shit being worked through, but
that’s inevitable and universal. My favorite track on the album, “The Rabbit,”
is one of these. My favorite element of the track is that it’s sad and sweet
but never sappy. This album is never sappy.
What the album is
is great. It’s a great album. Full of heart and abandon and soul. Like the
whole “Waiter, there’s a frog in my…” bit that opens the terrifically catchy
“Let the Fireflies Fly Free,” which for whatever reason sticks with me and is
funny every time. Closer “Where’s the Indifference Now?” plays like a murder mystery
depicting a suicide. “Why would someone so young with so many reasons to be
happy?” he queries. It feels like the other side of tragedy. An alternate
ending detailing what it would take for one to end one’s own life with Mulcahy
standing slackjawed with curious. With Mulcahy’s mythological reality in my
head I read it like Mulcahy letting us know that he is capable with handling
tragedy. Because of course he is.
I like to imagine what it would be like if Robert Pollard
and Mark Mulcahy started a band and how I would like that. They have so much in
common. Both are indie rock lifers with a penchant for great lyrics, big
guitars, and old time rock and roll filtered threw new time rock and roll
technique. Ultimately he’s one of those dudes who has defied Father Time and
continues to make great music at a high level when his peers from the heyday of
college rock are either retired comfortably with their families or (in the case
of say, R.E.M.) shadows of their
former selves. In my book, “Poison Candy Heart” is enough to ensure Mark
Mulcahy pop supremacy for the year. I can’t think of another song that’s gotten
lodged in my head so hard. “Who’s gonna clean this up?/Probably me like I
always do, you gotta poison candy heart,” Mulcahy sings. The lyrics feel conversational
throughout. He scatters moments of levity between moments of the real shit
people don’t like to talk about and that’s why he has earned my infinite
respect. The great fuck you of Dear Mark
Mulcahy, I Love You is that he so easily could have made a record about how
fucking awful it would be to lose one’s wife (I personally can’t even imagine,
it hurts even to do so) and people would have loved it. “Oh, look at Mark Mulcahy, it’s so sad, A+, 8.5, etc.”
Instead he made a record that’s fun and loose and playful and a complete
fucking joy.
"The Rabbit" (I don't know if whoever uploaded this to youtube could have made it any cornier. Just put it on in the background and enjoy)
"She Makes the World Turn Backwards"
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