Search - Mark Mulcahy :: Fathering

The best new album i've heard in a long time

steven warrington | England | 12/18/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"i had never heard of mark mulchay or miricle legion until i picked up this record in a local store one wet afternoon, id read a review comparing him to jeff buckley and was intrigued. at first i didn't get it, i couldn't get a hold on the songs, what they were about or where they were coming from. but after a couple of listens its beauty began to seap in and i was hooked. it sounds to me like the follow up to grace that jeff never got to make, but at the same time is no mere copy. i've listen to it on the walkman on my way to work pretty much everyday for a month and im still not bored of it. i love it, and i'd recomend it to anyone..."

An unexpectedly stunning & emotional tour-de-force.

Tim Millin | London, England | 05/27/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I had seen Miracle Legion a few times (including their first ever UK gig, where they were so excited that they took pictures of the audience!) and had always been a fan of the records; then just last year I saw Mark play solo in a tiny club in London and he was great, but NOTHING had prepared me for this. 'Fathering' is an unexpected marvel, a stunning emotional tour-de-force with an intensity and ambition to which most other records do not even aspire. For the unwary listener I can only suggest the vaguest comparisons: the vocal pyrotechnics of Jeff Buckley or the keening tone of Radiohead's Thom Yorke (a huge fan,as I understand it) perhaps; and clearly this record is in the great tradition of any of the classic singer-songwriters that you could care to name, but in the final result this album really stands alone. It's desperately poignant, and it will quite possibly bring you to tears in places, but in common with only the greatest records it has a rapturous sense of the wonder and healing power of humanity. I can only hope that word of mouth carries this strange and beautiful record into peoples hearts."

A Musical and Emotional Touchstone

Thomas A Chace | 11/24/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I came into knowing Miracle Legion and Mark Mulcahy late in the game. A roommate and very good friend of mine introduced me to this CD on accident. He would always play it at night when we were sitting around chatting. After about 7 listens, I asked him what he was always playing. He pointed out the CD, and I locked its cover into my memory. Often when he was gone, I would listen to Fathering, and I became more and more entranced with the album. Mark soon was in town on tour, and we went to see him, leaving strangely satisfied and emotionally charged before the "main" act. I now have few of the Miracle Legion CD's (that are left in this world, as they are so hard to find) and two copies of Fathering. One for work and one for home. Sometimes I give listening to it a break, but often when I come back to it, I am reminded of how I feel when I first heard it. It is altogether heartbreaking, haunting, emotionally intense, and a ray of hope. It is a man and his guitar. Fathering is a tear slipping down your cheek, while a smile brews on your lips as your thoughts remind you of things that are pure and good."