VERTICAL VOICE
SCOTT MULVAHILL REIMAGINES THE SINGER– SONGWRITER NARRATIVE
It’s
the Sunday night of the return of Game of Thrones, and the weather is on-andoff rain, but inside Rockwood Music Hall in New York City’s East Village, an enthusiastic crowd is hanging on Scott Mulvahill’s every note. That’s the effect the Nashville-based Mulvahill has been having on listeners both through his YouTube videos — including his NPR Tiny Desk concert — and on this first national tour of his, in support of his dazzling, dozen-track debut, Himalayas. Sure, a singer–songwriter who accompanies himself on acoustic bass is novel. But the credit for said devotion goes to his evocative, from-the-heart songs, reach-for-it vocals, and crafty, fill-in-the-band bass lines (Nashville guitarist/vocalist Zach Torres is providing additional support on this run). Like all great artists, Mulvahill makes what he does look easy and natural. In truth, there’s a litany of endlessly practiced, precision moves to coordinate the plucks, string and body slaps, counterlines, and vocals that go into songs like the poignant “Fighting for the Wrong Side” and “The Lord Is Coming,” the playful “Top of the Stairs,” the uplifting “Begin Againers” (see complete transcription on page 29, and the sweeping, bowed title track. Add to that the conflict and confusion of loving intricate instrumental music and singer–songwriters equally in his
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BASS MAGAZINE ; ISSUE 2 ; bassmagazine.com
