Sunday, July 06, 2008

Cool is a word that’s tossed around very casually these days...



But I love this.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

ANDY MULLEN: THE TOENAIL JAR

Is He Folk Music’s New Bad Boy?

“Andy Mullen sports the rich baritone of Crash Test Dummies' Brad Roberts and a sense of humor somewhere between Bob Newhart and a classic cast of Saturday Night Live. “
_ Performing Songwriter




Andy Mullen plays music that he describes as, “folk fusion,” but don’t get the wrong idea, there is nothing sedate or staid about it. Rather, his music bursts out of the speakers in a stream of imagery and sound, and Mullen’s command of his craft is so palpable that in listening, one immediately knows they are hearing an artist with his own unique vision of life and music.

His new self-produced album, The Toenail Jar, downloadable for free at his site www.andymullenmusic.com, showcases the NYC based singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist coming of age both as a musician and as a person in a multitude of ways.

His clever lyrics will instantly grab your attention, but behind the humor is a man with a fierce intelligence and the soul of a poet. His ability to fashion the insane beauty and unexpected heartache of everyday life into short, well-crafted songs with catchy melodies and sharply etched image is remarkable.” _PlanetOut.com

Featuring his exceptional finger-picking style on guitar, the songs’ arrangements are uncommonly skillful, with light and subtle touches, like the fiddle and djembe on “Sun Goes Up, Sun Goes Down,” and the galloping banjo on “Quit Quittin’,” all which inspire a quiet sense of joy and wonder.

The utterly moving “So Does The Beer” tells the story of the death of his father, who died while he recorded the album. The song is an affectingly wry observation on love and loss; his vocals perfectly convey the balance of sadness and acceptance, while never succumbing to excessive sentimentality.

“Simple and stunning acoustic folk.” _Hybrid

But the album is also a showcase for Mullen’s wry and subtly wicked sense of humor, befitting an artist who calls himself “Folk Music’s New Bad Boy.” “Crooked Deck” inspires a multitude of smiles, in his description of himself as a man in possession of only, “The same rhyme all the time/Smokes and jokes and a dozen lines/They say that all I ever sing about is booze.” It’s ironic without being at all jaded, and in that, it is utterly invigorating.

For more information on Andy Mullen, contact:

Tiffany Nathaniel
PAI Media Ink
212.206.1598
tiffany@paimedia.com

Download The Toenail Jar at: www.andymullenmusic.com