Acclaimed singer-songwriter Mark Mulcahy will release his brand-new LP, The Possum in the Driveway. The record will be available on limited-edition gold vinyl on April 22nd as part of Record Store Day 2017. Mezzotint will follow with a general release on Friday April 28th. Possum marks Mulcahy’s fifth solo album and first since his celebrated 2013, Dear Mark J Mulcahy I Love You.
Long heralded by contemporary luminaries like Radiohead’s Thom Yorke, Michael Stipe and fellow songwriter Ryan Adams, Mulcahy makes bold new strides on Possum both as a songwriter and performer. His trademark jangly guitars drop out in favor of lush orchestrations that moodily underpin his dynamic deliveries without ever feeling forced or over-produced. Unshackled from his normal styles, Mulcahy’s voice embraces a wider emotional range than ever before: plaintive and tender (“Stuck on Something Else”), crackling and soulful (“The Fiddler”), and seductive and menacing (“I Am the Number 13”) all in the span of a few tracks. Possum is that rare record that ventures out in many different directions but always manages to find its way back home by song’s end.
“This record took years off my life to make,” Mulcahy says of Possum. “The war is over. I won.” The battles included a recording studio burning down, a car crash, the measles and shelving the project for a few years. Just clinging to the vision. Mark and his collaborators Ken Maiuri (Pedro the Lion, B-52s), John Panos (Augustines, Mates of State), and album producer Scott Amore (Butterflies of Love, Quiet Life) drifted from studio to studio before finally wrapping it all up at J Mascis’ Bisquiteen studio. In the end Mulcahy counts the struggle among his proudest accomplishments. “I’m in love with making albums,” he explains, “especially this one.”
In addition to his celebrated solo career, audiences may also know Mulcahy as the frontman of seminal ‘80s rock band Miracle Legion or as Muggy, ringleader of Polaris, the house band of the Nickelodeon series ‘The Adventures of Pete & Pete’. Both Miracle Legion and Polaris have reunited in recent years to tour and reissue classic albums on vinyl for previous Record Store Days. Miracle Legion will cap their current reunion tour by playing a handful of dates in April along both U.S. coasts. Mulcahy will be doing limited touring in support.
Find a track listing for The Possum in the Driveway as well as the final Miracle Legion dates below.
The Possum in the Driveway:
01. Stuck on Something Else
02. 30 Days Away
03. I Am the Number 13
04. Catching Mice
05. The Fiddler
06. Hollywood Never Forgives
07. Conflicted Interests
08. Cross the Street
09. They Broke The Spell
10. Jimmy
11. Geraldine
Miracle Legion Tour Dates:
4/7 – Fall River, MA @Narrows Center for the Arts
4/8 – North Adams, MA @Mass MoCa
4/20 – Philadelphia, PA @Boot & Saddle
4/21 – New York, NY @Bowery Ballroom
4/22 – Hamden, CT @The Ballroom at The Outer Space
4/28 – Los Angeles, CA @The Echoplex
4/29 – San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel
