When Nick Mulvey last played in Cambridge (a low-key gig at the United Emmanuel Reform Church last November), it seemed that both artist and audience were aware that the next year would be a big one. But neither could have guessed precisely how extraordinary it would turn out to be.
First Mind
Mulvey’s debut album First Mind went straight into the top ten, his single Cucurucu was playlisted on Radio 1 and hit the top 40, he performed on the revered Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury and within days of our interview, First Mind was nominated for the Mercury Prize.
That’s not to say his sudden ascent has been a result of good luck: this is an artist who has spent years working hard and honing his craft. Remarkably, this is also not the first time Mulvey has been nominated for a Mercury Prize. The band he helped form whilst studying at SOAS, Portico Quartet, achieved widespread acclaim, and their debut album Knee-deep in the North Sea was nominated for the prestigious prize in 2008.
But what must’ve seemed like a huge gamble, leaving an established and successful group to go it alone as a solo singer-songwriter, certainly seems to be paying off.
“I really just needed to keep changing to keep being creative,” he says when we caught up with him en route to Bestival, “When you set your life up to depend on your creativity, it really takes you deeply into thinking about where it comes from, and how can I sustain it? I was tired of playing the hang drum and wanted to play guitar again and write songs and sing and write the lyrics. I knew from my experiences with Portico Quartet that it takes a bit of time. I was 22 at that point and I knew that if I didn’t get on it, then I’d miss the boat.”
Local hero
Growing up in Cambridge, Mulvey was playing music from an early age; first kitchen pans, then onto a full drum kit before exploring the piano and guitar. His first live performances were at the Folk Club at The Portland Arms and the band he formed at Long Road Sixth Form College, The Cunning Stunts, played their early shows at The Man on The Moon.
“I was always playing and it was all very seamless: the transition to loving music like that to it being professionally a part of my life was also very seamless. I started Portico Quartet and we were doing all the things that are the profession before we even realised we were doing it.”
From early this year it was easy to see the groundswell building up around Mulvey, but it was the single Cucurucu that catapulted him into the mainstream. The song is based on a poem by D.H. Lawrence, in which a child sits under a piano, experiencing his mother playing and singing. This seemingly esoteric composition evidently resonated with listeners, in no small part due to the care and affection given to the songwriting and the fact that Mulvey’s music defies singer- songwriter clichés, with an end result that both comforts and challenges the listener.
“People are really up for interesting music, interesting writing, and unusual writing,” he muses when asked about the feedback he’s had to Cucurucu. “People actually responded really well to that song, that really does something, not just more music about being in the club. The words ‘yearning to belong’, I know that mattered to me so I can only hope that it mattered to other people, that they could resonate with it and get their own meaning out of it.”
With a full band, a home crowd and a considerable buzz currently surrounding him, Mulvey’s gig at Cambridge Junction this month looks set to be very different, but no less special, than last year’s show.
“I hope that every gig in Cambridge will always be that special and that each one will naturally surpass the other,” says Nick. “To someone who hasn’t seen my performance since last November it should be a real transition and that really excites me.”
Nick Mulvey plays Cambridge Junction on 17 October, 7pm, £13.50.
