Unflagging optimism pervades the tales of a wandering musician.
There’s something instantly appealing about the life of an artist who travels the world as they slowly build their body of work. A profusion of examples can be found in literature and history, but real life still has some interesting examples to offer. Like a modern-day troubadour, Mark Mulholland has travelled far and wide, venturing to places quite unlike his home country of Scotland. Throughout the years, he has been involved in all kinds of musical projects across Europe (“from playing in psychedelic bands in Edinburgh to busking in the streets of Europe, forming bands in the West of Ireland and song-swapping in Prague to running open-mic nights in Berlin”), crisscrossed the USA with the folk-rock band Two-Dollar Bash, and collaborated on diverse projects in Haiti and Mali. In addition to this, he can boast production work with legends like Damon Albarn, and the creation of a music festival with Toumani Diabate. You can imagine he has some stories to tell.
“Fighting With Your Shadow” is Mulholland’s latest release, an eleven-track solo album that touches upon a range of styles, with a heavy lean towards roots-rock, country-folk, and 90s alternative rock. However, if the imprint of the past is indelible in the album’s sound, many of the tales that are told keep the songs anchored to the present. Modern topics are broached in tracks like ‘Reality TV’ and ‘Morning Sun’, in which contemporary life is described through themes of technology and oversaturation. Nonetheless, the idea that Mulholland repeatedly returns to is living in the present. Taking life as it comes is an important part of the album’s philosophy. And even if the lyrics take darker turns at times, an undercurrent of optimism is always felt.
“Because the best time of my life is now
always has been anyhow
and the best place in the world for me
is where I am, wherever that may be.”
“Fighting With Your Shadow” is described as a testament to the value of friendship. Listening to the album, you might wonder if this fully shows through. Most songs create the impression of a solitary (yet not necessarily lonely) existence. ‘Sleepwalking’, ‘Nothing to Prove’, ‘Face in the Mirror’, and the album’s title track all describe moments in the narrator’s life as removed from other people, grounded in individual experiences. The general picture is of a roving, sometimes chaotic life in which old friends pop along the way. Perhaps this is the reason why their presence is valued all the more.
Given Mulholland’s intriguing background, you can’t help but miss a heavier presence of international references, away from the American-heavy musical canon. On the other hand, this leaves an itch to hear more from this intriguing musician’s work. “Fighting With Your Shadow” is a solid album that will make you want to explore Mulholland’s previous musical ventures.
