Don’t Talk Crazy

A couple of months ago I had my first exposure to Mark Mulcahy's music. The venue was PA's Lounge a little room that is adjunct to a little bar in Union Square in Somerville, MA.

Mulcahy is famous to some for his work in his old band Miracle Legion. I'd never heard any of his stuf before. I was there because my friend Dana was opening for him. She had made a point of telling me how great Mulcahy is, but I had no idea what to expect.

Quickly I was blown away by the crazy intelligence and surprising beauty of the peformance—faux sloppy, effortlessly various and changeable. And what a voice. It was just Mulcahy on guitar along with a bass player and a drummer who each sometimes doubled on other instruments. For a few songs there was also a keyboard player.

A ways into the set Mulcahy took his hands off his guitar and he and the bass player and drummer applied their voices, just their voices, to this song. You could hear the sounds from the bar, separated from the lounge by a wall and a hallway. But the performance space was silent while the three men sang this. The sounds of the bar and pretty much everything else in Somerville dropped into the background.

I wish I had a recording of that performance that night at PA's, but this mp3 will have to do.

Don't Talk Crazy (4:59, 5.7 MB - click on the little blue triangle to listen)

UPDATE (9/7): On request of Mark Mulcahy's management I have removed access to this mp3. The song is currently for sale on the iTunes music store (requires iTunes).