Delmhorst, Foucault, and Mulvey

06.29.2006 -- Review by: Shaun Harvey

We start off we Peter Mulvey’s new disc entitled "The Knuckleball Suite". Originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Peter Mulvey’s ninth full-length record and fourth solo effort for Signature Sounds, comes on like a whisper and a double edged sword. Mulvey’s words are intelligent and full of biting wit, the music is hushed and soulful, and the songs are lyrical, lilting, and lasting in the ear and the mind. Many of the songs immediately remind me of Randy Newman in both style and delivery, and both song and singer are aided by David Goodrich’s production and his stellar guitar work throughout the album’s thirteen tracks. Highlights include the bluesy and upbeat "Old Simon Stimson", a really nice jazzy re-working of the U2 tune "The Fly", and the poetry of "You and Me and the Ten Thousand Things" and "The Knuckleball Suite". Peter Mulvey has raised the bar considerably since his debut back in 1994 as"Knuckleball Suite" represents his most complete and rewarding album to date.

Up next is Kris Delmhorst’s new album "Strange Conversation", the fourth solo album to date from the Brooklyn, New York raised, Cambridge, Massachusetts based singer songwriter. To call this album poetic would be an understatement considering the nature of the project itself. What Delmhorst has done over the course of the album’s twelve tracks is add another dimension to the words of true poets as she adapts or directly puts to music poems by Lord Byron, Robert Browning, ee cummings, and others. Musically the album is amazing with styles ranging from jazz, folk, and blues as Delmhorst teams up with an all new band featuring bass player Paul Kochanksi and drummer Lorne Entress (both from Lori McKenna’s band) and guitar player Kevin Barry (Mary Chapin Carpenter and Paula Cole). The album in no way sounds stuffy or high brow and the album’s greatest instrument, Delmhorst’s voice, is both powerful and tender, falling somewhere between that of Jolie Holland and Patty Griffin. Favorites include a rockin’ Walt Whitman-inspired tune entitled "Light of the Light" based upon excerpts from Whitman’s "Passage to India" and the New Orleans ragtime infused "Invisible Choir" adapted from George Eliot’s "O May I Join the Choir Invisible". As an added bonus both the excerpts from the original poems and Delmhorst’s adapted lyrics are included in the liner notes.

Last but certainly not least is the latest from Jeffrey Foucault entitled "Ghost Repeater". Of the three albums this is far and away my favorite. These songs bounce and breathe, the writing and vocals remind me of something between Darrell Scott and Keb Mo at their very best, and the music on "Ghost Repeater" is pure genius. Bo Ramsey (Pieta Brown, Greg Brown, Lucinda Williams) is brilliant as both a lead guitar player and producer, as he adds atmosphere and depth to the album and gives these eleven songs a perfect place to rest next to Foucault’s pure and lonely voice. Other guests include Eric Heywood on steel guitar (Son Volt), who shines on "One Part Love", Dave Moore on harp and accordion, and Kris Delmhorst on backing vocals. Every song is a highlight and all were written by Foucault on this, his third solo album to date. Collectively these songs are for the most part dark, honest tales for country as represented in lines like those found in "Appeline", the album’s final cut. "They’re selling heart attacks on credit / and shadows on a screen / and they’ll grind your bones to dust / in this American machine". And while "Appeline" portrays the mood and message of many of the album’s songs, Foucault still finds room for love and longing as best exhibited in "Mesa, Arizona". "You’re the sky all full of starlings / and an ax blade shining in the sun / you’re the angel touched a coal / against my lips / you’re my only one". All told "Ghost Repeater" is a true gem and the album clearly establishes Jeffrey Foucault as a singer songwriter whose star is just beginning to rise. With each subsequent listen to this record every song grows deeper in and further outward in both maturity and feeling.

Whether you pick up one of these records or all three, they definitely should be heard. And music fans everywhere should be grateful for the man behind not only these three albums, but for introducing the world to deserving artists like Dave Carter and Tracy Grammar, Josh Ritter, Lori McKenna, and Mary Gauthier. Jim Olsen, the co-founder of Signature Sounds Recordings has made a career out of giving a home and a sense of freedom to a whole family of artists to do what they do best...create. I can find no better words to describe what Olsen for has done for these and countless other musicians than those from Rumi’s "Where Everything is Music":

Stop the words now.
Open the window in the center of your chest,
And let the spirits fly in and out.