●●●●○

Nick Mulvey’s first album, First Mind, was ripe with classical imagery and haunting lyrics. There’s something consistently poetic and chant-like, yet still musically masterful about Mulvey’s songs. I was eager to see how this sound would translate to a new album three years later.

At first listen, I was impressed. Mulvey presents in Wake Up Now an album charged with percussive sounds and scattered with more eclectic influences than previously.

‘When The Body Is Gone’, with its percussive, electronic beat, recalls Nineties hip-hop or R&B with its percussive, electronic beat. However, layered with Mulvey’s signature weighty lyrics and choral echoes, it becomes something entirely new. ‘Transform Your Game’ has perhaps a similar effect, although with brassy jazz undertones and occasional electronic impulses.

‘Remembering’ offers a sound which is more folk-like, and is very clearly influenced by Mulvey’s  interest and study of ethnomusicology. Here, Mulvey combines sounds charged by a culture which may not be his own, with words that most definitely are, as he recalls memories of his childhood. While the memories of his father are indeed his, they are also stereotypical and applicable to many. Mulvey does this purposely, to question true originality and what actually divides one experience from another. “After all our different names / In this we’re the same”, he reminds us.

‘Myela’ is for Mulvey an important break from his usual style of writing, as he delves into the refugee crisis. Telling FACT Magazine that he “felt unworthy to write poetry about this subject,” Mulvey explained that the lyrics were from “first-hand accounts of refugee journeys”. ‘Myela’ was released as a single in June, with proceeds going to Help Refugees UK.

‘In Your Hands’, at seven minutes long, is perhaps the perfect summation of what one might expect from Mulvey — cathartic lyrics, a strong beat, skilful guitar and a style of singing clearly influenced by the multiculturalism of a world built on touring and travelling.

At the heart of the album is ‘Mountain to Move’, the chorus from which the album itself gets its title. ‘Mountain to Move’, like the album as a whole, is about personal growth and recognition and finding your way in a world which at times seems built to divide and defeat us.

Wake Up Now is to some a cry to action. To others, it is a gentle reminder to put one foot in front of the other. All in all, the album is beautifully crafted and leaves the listener reaching for the replay button immediately.