[New Release] PETER MULVEY

PETER MULVEY

“There Is Another World”

Label: Righteous Babe
Genre: Folk

Midway through Peter Mulvey’s new album, he sings about the ravages of time on the tune “Nickel and Dime.” It lasts 15 seconds.

Mulvey always brings to his work a willingness to push folk boundaries, and that’s the case on “There Is Another World.”

The Wisconsin songwriter-guitarist quotes Yeats, Rilke and Greg Brown, and that’s just in the liner notes. There’s also a literary bent to the lyrics, which can be cryptic or opaque but benefit from imagery that’s vivid and sometimes beautiful. On the love song “Owl,” he describes two birds who “both dropped into the air.”

Mulvey pairs his words with inventive arrangements anchored by his fingerpicking and by producer Todd Sickafoose’s standup bass, with further color provided by violin, pedal steel, accordion, clarinet and wine glass rims.

Mulvey celebrates nature on “The Fox,” mourns war casualties on “To Your Joy,” echoes Brown on “Henry’s Only Daughter” and gets his Irish up on “Beckett Was a Bird of Prey.” The 13-song set goes quickly, and not just because of “Nickel and Dime.” AP