| RICHARD MULVEY (A.K.A. KNICKERBOY) |
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| Richard Mulvey (also known as Knicker Boy) hails from Edinburgh, Scotland. He plays all instruments and sings all vocals on this collection of songs from his independently produced debut EP, "Knicker Boy". It's quite an appealing set of tunes and Richard's wonderful vocals are alternately reminiscent of Beck, Lou Reed, David Bowie, Iggy Pop and even Bob Dylan! The guitar work does have a certain level of psychedelia inherent in it, but it really only hints at it, without going full-throttle with it. "Lights in the Sky" is mellow, melodious and conveys a sort of LSD-induced gothic mystery to it and certainly succeeds in creating that "spaced-out" feeling which would accompany an encounter with aliens and spaceships, however real or hallucinatory the "vision" was. For some reason, it reminded me of Alice Cooper's classic song, "Steven", where the boy was caught on that fine line between sanity and insanity. Richard also cites the Beatles as an influence, and that shows up in "Sad Blues Eyes", which has a very catchy melody. For a song about lost love, though, the emotions seem rather hollow. But then, perhaps the writer didn't feel all that bad about the lost relationship himself but felt compelled to pay homage to the other person's sorrow. "Pete on Broughton Street", is a totally different vibe - upbeat and rather punkish-funkish, demonstrating his musical influences from Beck, as well as early 60s artists such as the Monkees (I am vaguely reminded of "Not Your Stepping Stone" in the arrangement here) the Yardbirds or early Kinks. "Sol Ra Solar" (nice play on words here) is quite unique-sounding but I found the cacaphony of layered voices towards the end to be a bit annoying. Perhaps that was the point, though, as I sometimes personally feel overwhelmed when in a room full of "noise" (lots of people talking at once, TV sets blaring, stereos pulsing, etc). Overall, a very positive listening experience! I look forward to hearing some more from him. |
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